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A GRAND EXPOSE 

\\ 



THE SCIENCE OF GAMBLING 

% 

CONTAININC 


gl Complete disclosure of tlje Secrets of Ibe §td. 


AS PRACTICED BY 


PROFESSIONAL GAMBLERS. 


WRITTEN BY AN ADEPT. 


NEW YORK: 

FREDERIC -A.. BRADY, PUBLISHER, 
No. 24 ANN STREET. 




N 


.061 


Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year i860, by 
FREDERIC A. RRADY, 

In the Clerk’s Office of the District court oi the Dnited States for the Southern 

District of New York. 


The JOHN J. and HANNA M. McMANUg 
and MORRIS N. and CHESLEY V. YPtfNg 

Collection 

{Gift—Oct. 12, 1955 


A GRAND EXPOSE 


OF 

THE SCIENCE OF GAMBLING. 


The Game of Faro. 


A full and correct exposition of the fraudulent char¬ 
acter of the Game of Faro, with all the ingenious devices 
and arts connected with this dangerous game, with the 
manner of manufacturing different kinds of cheating 
cards Used at this game ; also an explanation of a secret 
known only to gamblers, called “ snaking cards,” a very 
ingenious plan which gamblers use to swindle each other 
at the Game of Faro, or any person who may be selected 
as a victim. 




4 


THE GAME OF FARO. 


Several years since a reformed gamester, by the name 
of Green, placed a work before the public, purporting to 
be an exposk of the mysteries of gaming. This book 
doubtless produced a very desirable effect upon the pub¬ 
lic mind, but it would not be of much value at the pre¬ 
sent day, as such skillful improvements have been made 
during the past ten or fifteen years in gaming, that I 
doubt not Mr. Green himself would now prove an easy 
victim to the professional gamester, provided he has not 
been engaged at gaming since he issued his book on the 
subject. 


Side Strippers. 

In regard to the fraudulent character of the Game of 
Faro, I shall commence by first describing the peculiar 
land of card known among gamblers by the name of 
“ Side Strippers/' This is a deck of cards cut and pre¬ 
pared for use by gamblers in the following manner, with 
a machine with scissors attached to it, which is manu¬ 
factured for the purpose. The cards purchased for this 



THE GAME OF FARO. 


5 


purpose are selected with care—thin and elastic cards 
being preferable to any others. They are first trimmed 
with this machine (above mentioned) perfectly square— 
then each card of the deck is trimmed on the edges so 
as to leave them similar in shape to a wedge ; that is, 
they are a trifle wider at one end than the other, so tri¬ 
fling that no one not posted would ever observe it. It 
is then decided if the deck is to be arranged so as to play 
one end against the other ; that is, the ace, deuce, tray, 
king, queen and jack, to piay against the four, five, six, 
ten, nine and eight. Now the first named cards, with 
two of the sevens, are placed together, making one half 
of the deck ; then the latter named cards above, with 
the other two sevens which constitute the other half of 
the deck, are placed together—they are still smooth and 
even on the edges ; they are then equally divided as I 
have designated them by name above ; then one half the 
deck is turned round, and you have a deck of strippers. 

The gambler then, can shuffle them in every manner, 
by giving the deck a quick pull and holding each end of 
the deck between his thumb and finger, and one half the 


6 


THE GAME OF FARO. 


deck is stripped from the other, bringing the cards all 
back to their original positions as described above. The 
gambler now takes one half the deck, and proceeds care¬ 
fully with a piece of fine sand paper to sand the backs 
of one half the deck by rubbing them on the backs, par¬ 
ticularly near the edges, (for which I shall give reasons 
presently,) the other remaining half of the deck are then 
sanded in the same manner, upon the faces ; each end of 
the deck is then made smooth by rubbing them upon a 
piece of sand paper, and you have a complete deck of 
strippers ready for use. 

I shall now proceed to the manner of using them— 
the dealer first shuffles them well from top to bottom, 
it is a fair shuffle, no fault can be found. After shuff¬ 
ling them a sufficient length of time, the dealer suddenly, 
and with a slight movement of his hands, pulls or strips 
the deck as above described ; then taking one half the 
deck in one hand, and the other half in the other hand, 
and placing the ends together, runs them in, thereby 
displacing every card in the deck by this process of run¬ 
ning them. In one half of the layer out, cards in the 


THE GAME OF FARO. 


7 




order as mentioned above will win through, and the 
other half also mentioned above, will lose through. The 
cards are now cut and placed in the box ; now, which¬ 
ever card commences winning, will win through, and the 

► 

card which commences losing will lose through, and this 
would actually occur, but that the dealer has actually 
the power to cause any card in the box to win or lose 
as he may think proper. If the victim commences bet¬ 
ting on the losing cards, he cannot win a bet, because 
they will continue to lose ; but should the customer (as 
he might do) commence betting on some ot the winning 
cards, the dealer can instantly change' the run of the 
cards and cause those which have been winning to com¬ 
mence losing, and those which have been losing to com¬ 
mence winning. But what produces this sudden and 
remarkable change P A very easy and simple process to 
the dealer—he simply presses a lever attached to the box, 
and takes two cards instead of one, by this means, re¬ 
versing the run of the cards. 

It is readily perceived that the dealer has complete 
control over every bet put down against him ; perhaps 


8 


THE GAME OF FARO. 


the dealer may have occasion to take two again for the 
purpose of changing a run of cards the second time ; in 
fact, he must do so again before the deal is out, because 
it is necessary to take two an even number of times to 
pi event having a misdeal at the end of the deal. 


The Capper. 

When such a game as this is in progress, there is 
always a Capper on hand, and betting, of course, against 
the game he is playing, simply to aid the dealer as oc¬ 
casion may require ; he is always sure to keep the cues, 
and very correctly, too. When the dealer has occasion 
to take two cards, of course there is an invisible card 
beneath the one seen, but adhering so very close that it 
is impossible for any person to observe that there is more 
than one. This card, which is not seen, is thrown in 
such a manner by the dealer, that he can find it at any 
moment. After a short time he carefully shows this 
card to the Capper, who marks it as either having won 



THE GAME OF FARO. 


9 


or lost, without being observed. In consequence of 
marking this card, which is never seen, only by the Cap¬ 
per, of course the cue comes out perfectly correct. As 
a general thing, when one person is keeping the cues, no 
one else will ; and, in fact, the generality of young men 
who play, seldom know how, or else can keep them so 
very imperfect, or very slow, that they are willing to 
resign their cue paper to any one else who will take the 
trouble to keep them. Sometimes a customer will ask 
for a cue paper—the dealer may inform him that his cue 
papers have run out; but, should he insist, he will be 
supplied with one. Should he be a little on the sharp, 
he will be much mistaken in detecting the dealer, because 
at the next deal the dealer will not run the cards in as 
before, but will simply, after shuffling them, pull them, cut 
them, and place them in the box ; the result will be that 
the cards being simply pulled, the cards of the same 
size will be brought very nearly together, and many of 
them immediately so, producing probably producing eight 
or ten splits on the deal, which would be difficult to 
beat; there is usually one or two splits during a deal. 


10 


THE GAME OF FARO. 


The Chopping Deal. 

Perhaps the next deal, the dealer will, after shuffling 
them, pull them, and run them in twice instead of once, 
thereby producing a chopping deal, that is, most of the 
cards would first win and then lose, then lose, then win 
and lose again to the end of the deal ; consequently, no 
one could win a parale bet, that is, win one bet twice on 
the same card. At this time, should any one have 
played in great luck and he winner, the dealer will 
give them a rough deal occasionally. One rough deal 
would he sufficient to win in nearly, or perhaps all the 
checks that were out. Of course, when this occurs, the 
cues will not come out correct to any person who may 
he keeping them, except the Capper. The victim who 
is keeping them will very likely presume that he has ne¬ 
glected taking down a turn, and he has only failed keep¬ 
ing them correct once or twice, and thus the game pro¬ 
gresses until all the victims are fleeced. * They presume 
they have simply played in had luck and retire ; other 
customers arrive and the same scene is enacted over 
again. 


THE GAME OF FARO. 


11 


Sxpose of the Dealing Box. 

In regard to the manner in which two cards are taken 
from the box, without detection, it is exceedingly ingen¬ 
ious. The dealing box is manufactured expressly for 
the purpose, and costs usually about one hundred dollars, 
being about double the price of a square box, (by the 
bye, a square box is an article I have never seen,) and I 
have examined a number of them. These boxes are 
made principally in New York, and other large cities, 
although there is a jeweler in Petersburg who makes 
them, and they are considered a very superior article by 
gamblers. 

These double boxes are made in the following manner: 
the front side of the box is made double, that is, com¬ 
posed of two plates placed near together, with another 
thin plate which works between the two. The center 
plate, when stationary, reaches a little above the other 
two false plates, which admits of one card being taken 
from the box at one time. Connected with this center 
plate is a lever which is worked at the back part of the 
box ; there are two metal bars running across each end 


12 


THE GAME OF FARO. 


of the box, inside. The bar nearest the dealer is the 
lever by which this delicate machinery is worked. The 
dealer has only to give a slight pressure on this lever 
with his finger, which causes this center plate (above 
mentioned) to fall a very little, which instantly admits 
two cards to pass through the mouth of the box ; in¬ 
stantly the finger is raised from the lever, which permits 
this center plate to return to its original position. An¬ 
other ingenious peculiarity about this box is, that this 
lever can be locked and unlocked at pleasure, in a second 
of time, that is, this lever can be made stationary at 
any moment, which is to prevent any person from acci¬ 
dentally discovering this secret lever. This lever is 
locked by gently pushing a very little towards the front 
part of the box, and unlocked by pushing it back to its 
original position. This kind of box which I have just 
mentioned is the latest and most ingenious invention of 
the kind. 


THE GAME OF FARO. 


13 


The Screw Box. 

There is another box used by some, called the screw 
box ; the plates are all arranged similar to the one above 
mentioned, the difference being that the lever is worked 
by pressing downwards on a screw outside the box near¬ 
est the dealer. 

Another, and still older invention, which is seldom or 
never used, is called the tilt box. Two cards are taken 
by pressing downwards on the back of the lid, which 
widens the mouth of the box, thereby permitting two 
cards to pass through. 

Many years ago, Faro was dealt by placing the cards 
in the box with the backs up instead of the faces, as it 
is now played. The top of the box was nearly all cov¬ 
ered over, only leaving a place for the finger to push the 
card from the box, the first card taken from the box 
being the winner and the second one the loser. This 
species of dealing was equally as fraudulent as the pre¬ 
sent system of Faro. This kind of box was so manu¬ 
factured that the dealer could take the second card 
instead of the first, at his pleasure, and the top of the 


14 


THE GAME OF FARO. 


card being nearly covered over, of course no person could 
observe if the card on top was taken first or not. Each 
card in the deck was marked on the back, so that the 
dealer could easily know before he made a turn which 
card would win and which would lose ; for example, 
should a person have a bet on the king, and the dealer 
should observe that the king would win, the dealer has 
only to take the second card instead of the first, which 
causes some other card to win and the king to lose on the 
turn. The reader will readily perceive that the dealer in 
this case has complete ^ control over any bet which may 
be made against him. This manner of dealing Faro is 
somewhat in use at this time ; in fact, it was played in 
in this State a short time since. There are other older 
inventions but they are not worth mentioning. 


Sanding the Cards. 

I said that I would state the reasons for sanding the 
cards after being made into strippers, and I will now do 



THE GAME OF FARO. 


15 


so. By rubbing them with sand paper they are made 
rough and many small particles of sand are left imbed¬ 
ded in each card ; thus, when two are taken, this sand 
causes them to adhere closely together. Particular care 
is taken to sand the edge of each card to prevent them 
from separating when two are being taken from the box. 

The cards termed strippers, as has been described, is 
the most common cheating card in use ; and I shall now 
proceed to show the various improvements that have 
been made from the common side jstripper to the most 
ingenious card now known and in use. 


Rakes. 

The next card which possesses advantages over the 
side stripper, is called rakes, or end strippers. These 
cards are cut at the ends instead of the sides, as the 
common stripper ; they are arranged, sanded, &c., in a 
similar manner as the stripper previously described. This 
card is used in the following manner : During the last 



16 


THE GAME OF FARO. 


turn of a deal, and while the bettors are deciding which 
way they shall call the turn, &c., the dealer quietly pulls 
the cards from the ends, that is, endways. After mak¬ 
ing the last turn, the dealer instantly runs them in end¬ 
ways, as described before ; the cards may then be shuf¬ 
fled any length of time without ever changing their 
relative positions. The eards will be apparently 
displaced, but it is not really the case ; the cards re¬ 
maining adhered two together all through the deck during 
the process of shuffling. This may appear almost 
incredible, but it is strictly true, and it is owing to the 
manner in which they are cut, and from the fact of their 
being sanded. After being put in the box they are 
managed in the same way as common strippers. I will 
here state that the common stripper, after being pulled 
and run in, cannot be shuffled again without displacing 
the position of the cards; hence the advantage ot 
rakes over strippers. 


THE GAME OF FARO. 


17 


Hollows and Rounds. 

The next kind of cards which I shall describe are 
called hollows and rounds, and squares and rounds. These 
two kinds of cards are acknowledged by gamblers to be 
the most ingenious now in use, which is, beyond a doubt, 
true. The hollows and rounds are made in the follow¬ 
ing manner : It is first decided how they are to be 
arranged, as in the case of the strippers, mentioned 
above ; then one half of the deck is cut so as to leave 
each a little rounded on the edges, which makes them a 
trifle wider in the middle than at either end ; the other 
half of the deck remains square. Now, by placing the two 
half decks together they can be stripped or pulled the 
same as the common strippers—the difference being that 
the common strippers are stripped by being pulled 
lengthways and from the ends, while the hollows and 
rounds are stripped by pulling them lengthways from 
the middle of the deck ; thus, a person who has seen a 
deck of common strippers, could not pull a deck of 
rounds or a deck of rakes either, and consequently would 


18 


THE GAME OF FARO. 


think they were fair cards ; and another great advantage 
which these cards possess over others, is that they can 
he turned around and thrown about the table, and still 
they are not divested of their fraudulent character as 
strippers and rakes would be, should they be used in the 
same mannei\ 

There are some few persons, who, having heard of 
strippers, often turn the cards around if they suspect 
they are being cheated ; such a proceeding would have 
no effect whatever upon such a card as just described ; 
hence the bettor in such a case would be satisfied that 
he was playing against a square game. I am told that 
many professional gamblers could be swindled five or six 
years ago with this kind of card. Squares and rounds 
are made much in the same manner—they are cut to 
pull from the ends, like rakes ; they also can be turned 
round without producing any effect on them ; also, like 
hollows and rounds, they can be shuffled after being 
pulled and run in without changing the relative position 
of the cards ; they take two add use them otherwise in 
the same manner as described of the common strippers 


THE GAME OF FARO. 


19 


It will readily be perceived how easily the uninitiated 
can be swindled at this game with these ingenious contri¬ 
vances of the professional gambler. The reader (if he 
be not a gambler) will now presume that he has learned 
all the secrets of the game of Faro, and if the cues 
should come out correct by his keeping, that it would 
be an impossibility for the gambler to swindle him at 
the game of Faro. To such I must say that they are 
still ignorant of the entire system of this game. I have 
yet some very important expositions of this game to 
make which I have no doubt will surprise the reader as 
much or more than the expositions I have already made. 


* 


Fifty Threes. 

I shall first give an expose of a particular kind ot 
cards known among gamblers as fifty threes ; this is a 
prepared deck containing fifty three, one more than a 
legitimate deck contains. This odd card is never seen 
by the bettor ; the cues come out correct and there is 



20 


THE GAME OF FARO. 


nothing seen which the bettor can complain of. The 
advantage of this peculiar deck of cards to the gambler 
is that it gives him one sure turn during each deal, and 
is usually played on the last turn. When it comes to 
a call, the bettor cannot win, no matter wdiere he makes 
a bet ; but, on the contrary, he is sure to lose ; he can 
neither call the last turn correct nor win a bet at this 
time. It will be perceived that this is a vast additional 
per centage in favor of the game, so great that a person 
cannot beat it once in fifty times, unless he should play 
in remarkable good luck. The generality of persons 
call it on the last turn and also bet high because they 
can bet on single cards, which prevents the probability of 
their being split. Of course, everybody who plays cards 
is aware of my meaning when I speak of calling it on 
the last turn—it is simply calling the last three cards as 
they come successively out of the box. It can come 
one of six different ways. Should you call it correct 
you are paid four times the amount you bet, which will 
be seen is a large per centage in favor of the bank. 

I will now describe the manner in which a deck ot 


THE GAME OF FARO. 


21 


fifty threes is made, and also how they are played. A 
common deck of cards is first taken, to which is added 
another card, no matter what size ; we will suppose this 
card to be an ace, then we have five aces in the deck ; 
all the cards are then sanded with sand paper, except 
the five aces ; these aces are then marked on the hack 
with one or two dots with a pencil, so as to be recognized 
instantly when seen by the backs. The deck is then 
ready for use, and is played in the following manner : 
They are first shuffled a few times from bottom to top, 
the dealer not knowing, then, the position of a card in 
the deck ; he then commences finding the aces, which is 
easily done from the fact that they are the only cards 
which are not sanded, and because they are marked on 
the back so as to be recognized ; the dealer, while shuff¬ 
ling, finds one of the aces, which he shuffles so as to place 
it on the top of the deck, then another card (except an 
ace) is shuffled over this ace which has just been found, 
then another ace is found and shuffled on top of the 
deck, then some other card is shuffled ov^r this ace ; a 
false cut (done in various ways) is then given to the deck, 


22 


THE GAME OF FARO. 


which is really no cut at all ; they are then placed in 
the box and the game progresses till there is only one 
turn in the box—we will then suppose the last turn in 
the box consists of the following cards: an ace, king 
and queen; of course there are two aces, though only one 
is shown ; if the dealer wishes to make the ace lose he 
makes a turn, then takes two cards, as described elsewhere; 
the bottom one of these two cards which are taken at once 
being one of the aces, which leaves one card in the box, as 
it should he. Should he desire to make the ace win he 
takes two on the first turn, then only one afterwards, 
which causes one of the aces never to he seen, and leaves 
one card in the box, making the cues and last turn come 
out correct. This is impossible to be detected by any one 
unless he be a professional gambler, and in fact, it has 
been played on gamblers. Sometimes the cards are cut 
fairly, and this odd card is played in the middle of the 
deck ; in this case, when the dealer arrives where these 
aces are arranged, he is aware of it, and then acts in 
the same manner as described above on the last turn. It 
will be perceived that this is an exceedingly ingenious 


THE GAME OF FARO. 


23 

arrangement, calculated to deceive any one who may not 
be fully initiated in the secrets of gaming. 

There are still other means resorted to by the gambler 
to rob his victim, which I must mention, as I propose to 
offer a complete exposition of the fraudulent character of 
this game. 

The professional gambler can use a square box and 
square cards, and play such advantages on persons not 
posted, as to be almost sure of beating them : for in¬ 
stance, should a person, while playing against the game, 
make any favorite cards, that is, select favorite cards to 
bet on, (which is very often done,) the next deal the dealer 
can easily cause these favorite cards to win or lose through, 
as he may desire, "the bettor never suspecting but that 
it was accidental. As these favorite cards come out of 
the box the dealer places them at the bottom, (when the 
bettor is not observing,) at the end of the deal; these 
cards being at the bottom, are not disturbed while shuff¬ 
ling. The deck is then run in endways, and these cards 
being separated, will either win or lose through, accord- 
in «• to the manner in which the dealer desires them. 


24 


THE GAME OF FARO. 


Sometimes four or five cards of different denominations 
are placed together by the gambler while making a deal, 
afterwards the deck is shuffled without disturbing them, 
they are then run in, cut, and put in the box ; these 
cards will then either win or lose through, as chance 
may determine. In either case it will certainly deceive 
the bettors, because, should certain cards lose two or 
three times, the bettors would be likely to copper them, 
that is, play them to lose. The gambler being aware 
that this system is almost universally adopted by per¬ 
sons who play against the game of Faro, can easily take 
advantage of the bettors in the manner described. 

Again, should the bettor make a favorite of certain 
cards, the dealer, while making the deal, will carelessly 
place these favorites at the bottom of the deck, and when 
he shufflles for the next deal these cards are not displa¬ 
ced ; the consequence is, these cards will split and the 
bettor will lose half his bet, and presume that it was 
his ill-luck that his favorite cards should split, as he 
observes nothing incorrect about the game. Sometimes, 
if the bettor should watch the dealer very closely while 


THE GAME OF FARO. 25 

shuffling, he will have a deck prepared, so that favorite 
cards will lose through, placed in his lap already in a 
box precisely in appearance to the one he is using, and 
while the attention of the bettor is attracted away for a 
second, he rapidly changes the boxes. The box which 
he had been using is now in his lap, which is secretly 
removed by a confederate. This trick is often played 
upon sharpers where there can be no cheating cards used. 
Many persons have favorite cue cards which they play 
to win, but as soon as the dealer observes this fact, those 
cue cards will be made to lose at every future deal, 
which is done in the following manner : while making 
a deal, the card desired is placed at the bottom of one 
part of the deck, which will be the top when the cards 
are turned over. Now, if the dealer desires this cue card 
to win, he shuffles an odd number over it, then gives the 
deck a false cut and places them in the box ; then this 
cue card will win or lose, according to the number of 
cards which has been shuffled over it. 


26 


THE GAME OF FARO. 


The Cat Hop. 

There is another little trick called the cat hop ; the 
cards being so shuffled that on the last turn there will 
be two double cards in and one single one ; that is, for 
instance, there will be two jacks and one ace ; now, in 
such a case as this, the bettors will be sure to bet on the 
ace in preference to the jack, because, should they bet on 
the jack, they would have to take the chances of being 
a split; everybody plays a card to win oftener than to 
lose, consequently, this trick will deceive any one, even 
if he be a gambler, if he did not observe the dealer 
while shuffling the cards. In this trick, the ace will lose 
on the turn, and is done simply by placing any two cards 
of the same size at the top of the deck, which makes the 
cat hop at once ; care is taken not to disturb the two 
top cards while shuffling ; a false cut is then given the 
deck, and then put in the box, and on the last turn the 
single card will lose, and the double card will win, as 
stated above. 

There is still another plan in use whereby certain cards 
can be made to win or lose through, which is done with 


THE GAME OF FARO. 


27 


a deck of smooth strippers ; they are cut in the same 
manner as described elsewhere, the difference being that 
they are not sanded ; the object not being to take two 
at any time with 4his description of card ; they are so 
arranged, after being cut, that after pulling them and 
running them in, certain cards will win or lose through ; 
the pot cards, which are the six, seven and eight, may be 
arranged so as to win or lose through ; in either case the 
bettors would not play any cards to go through, and con¬ 
sequently would be swindled at this trick. 

I shall not take time to mention other small advan¬ 
tages practiced at this game, but shall conclude the sub¬ 
ject of Faro and proceed to the exposition of other pop¬ 
ular games ; but, in conclusion, I will state that I have 
been informed by gamblers, that in New York, and 
perhaps other large cities, many of the gamblers 
have become so skillful at the game of Faro, that they 
can take a box and square cards, and permit the bettor 
to shuffle the cards and put them into the box, and then 
swindle him and win every dollar he may bet against 
the game. 


28 


THE GAME OF FARO. 


One of the most notorious and skillful gamblers, pro¬ 
bably, in the Union, was beaten out of fifteen thousand 
dollars on one play, against a swindling game of this 
description. It is played in the following manner : the 
dealing box is manufactured for the purpose, in such an 
ingenious manner as to admit of the bottom of the box 
to be taken out entirely with springs, cards and all, leav¬ 
ing only one card in the box, which is the top one ; the 
dealing box ft placed on the table, immediately on a 
small secret trap arranged in the table. A confederate 
is secreted under the table, who quietly performs all the 

work. Whenever large bets are placed on any card to 

« 

win, the operator under the table is notified in a secret 
manner by the dealer of the card. Suppose it should be 
the ten, the operator immediately touches a spring at 
the bottom of the box, when ail the cards except the 
top one immediately pass through the bottom of the 
box and table ; the operator then places this particular 
card so that it will lose on the next turn. The deck is 
immediately transferred to its proper position again, and 
this particular card loses on the turn—all this being 


THE GAME OF FARO. 29 

done very rapid and quiet by the operator under the 
table. This ingenious plan will, no doubt, te soon 
introduced into this State, and others, if it has not been 
done already. It will be readily perceived that the pro¬ 
fessional gamester has every advantage of the uninitiated 
at this game. 

There are hundreds of advantages which are practiced, 
and it will be observed that nearly, or quite all of them, 
are exceedingly ingenious, fully calculated to deceive a 
very large majority of those who play against the game. 

No doubt after this expos6 aj>pears, that all the in¬ 
genuity of the gamblers will be brought into requisition 
for the purpose of inventing new ways and means to 
swindle, as was the case when Mr. Green issued his work 
upon the same subject, some ten years since. At the 
present time, but few tricks which he describes in his 
book are in use in connection with the game of Faro. 
Other, and very ingenious improvements have been made, 
among which are the cards mentioned as rakes, squares 
and rounds, fifty thre es, and snaking cards in various 
ways, the new style of box now in use, and many other 
small advantages. 


30 


THE GAME OF FARO. 


Common strippers were in use before Mr. Green issued 
bis book, but were not used exactly as they are at tbe 
present time ; in fact, a great change has been made in 
the game in every respect during the last ten or twenty 
years, as I have been informed by all old gamesters. 


Snaking Cards. 

Any person not initiated in this sort of gaming might 
take a deck of cards, shuffle them well, and put them in 
the box ; then, almost any professional gambler could 
play against the bank, and break the dealer, should he 
possess millions of dollars ; the cards are made for the 
purpose, (although perfectly fair to every appearance,) 
and then wrung in upon such dealer as may be selected 
for the victim. By the term wrung in, I mean that 
this prepared kind of card is placed among his other 
dealing cards in some secret manner when he is not 
aware of it. 



THE GAME OF FARO. 


31 


Should the victim have a gambling house, and no 
other opportunity present itself, his room will he entered 
late at night by false keys, and these cards will be oper¬ 
ated upon in such a manner that the operator can beat 
his game to a certainty next day, or at any future time. 

I have heard of the manner in which some gamblers 
can gain admittance to Faro banks, which is so skillful, 
that it led me to suspect that such gamblers, perhaps, 
sometimes entered houses for other purposes than snak¬ 
ing cards. I can mention gamblers, who, I venture to 
say, can pick any ordinary lock with a wire or nail, and 
with a bunch of skeleton keys and a file, can easily gain 
access to almost any building they may have designs 
upon. There are a few gamblers who travel the country 
for the purpose of snaking games, seldom engaging in 
any other species of gaming. Many gamblers are broke 
by having their cards snaked, and are not aware of it 
till years afterwards, and, in some cases, possibly never. 
Sometimes the person who snakes a game will not play 
against it in person, but will procure the services of 
some person who is a stranger to the dealer, thereby 
warding otf any suspicion that the game is snaked. 


32 


THE GAME OF FARO. 


How Cards are Snaked, 

One manner of snaking cards is done as follows, 
usually certain cards of the deck only are snaked : We 
will suppose that the pot cards, which are the six, seven 
or eight, are decided upon to he snaked first; a square 
deck of cards is taken, and the sixes, sevens and eights 
are sanded with sand paper on the hacks and faces ; two 
small dots are then made on the face of each card in the 
deck, near the edge of each card. The position of these 
dots on the cards is regulated by measuring on the 
card with the plate which belongs to the dealing box ; 
now, when a smooth deck of cards is placed in a dealing 
box, every time a card is taken from the box, the card 
next to the one taken is pulled a little forward in con¬ 
sequence of the card taken from the box pressing on the 
one underneath it. Now, with these snaked cards, the 
case is somewhat different ; while dealing with these 
cards, should a smooth one be next to the one drawn 
from the box, it would be drawn a little forward ; if 
there is not one of these sanded cards underneath this 
smooth one. If there should be one of the sanded cards 


THE GAME OF FARO. 


33 


under the smooth one, the card left on the top, after 
making a turn, will be held back by the sanded card, 
which is underneath it, and it will not be pulled forward 
at all. Now, when a card which is left on the top, after 
making a turn, is pulled forward, these dots (above men¬ 
tioned) are visible on the face of the card, denoting that 
neither of the pot cards can lose on the first turn ; con¬ 
sequently, the pot cards are played to win as long 
as this dot is visible on the face of the top card. But, 
in case, after a turn being made, that the top card 
should not have been pulled forward any, then the dot 
on the face of the top card could not be seen, denoting 
that one of the pot cards (which are the six, seven or 
eight) will certainly lose on the turn ; of course the pot 
is instantly coppered, that is, betting that the pot will 
lose. This is a very ingenious arrangement, as will be 
readily perceived by any person who has ever seen the 
game of Faro. 

Another plan of snaking is as follows : All the cards 
of either dark suit from the four to the ten are punched 
through the corner spot with a small instrument, which 


34 


THE GAME OF FARO. 


is manufactured for the purpose. It is similar to an 
instrument used by shoemakers to punch holes in shoes 
for the strings to pass through. Now, whenever a 
white surface is shown through this small hole, it must 
either he the ace, deuce, or tray, and would be played to 
win. These holes are made so very small that the per¬ 
son selected to heat the game has to use magnify¬ 
ing glasses to aid him in seeing through the cards dis¬ 
tinctly. 

And still another plan, which is done as follows:— 
Take a deck of cards and divide them, then take a piece 
of sand-paper and rub the edges of one-half of them, 
which makes them brighter than those not rubbed with 
the sand-paper. It is known which cards have a bright 
edge, and also which have a darker edge. Now a per¬ 
son sitting at the back of the box can easily perceive if 
the last card in the box hag a dark or bright edge, then 
on the last turn he can easily call it, and also bet correct¬ 
ly on the losing and winning card; for instance, sup¬ 
pose on the last turn there should be in the box a six, 
seven and eight. We will now suppose that the six has 


THE SAME OF FARO. 


35 


a bright edge, and seven and eight have a darker edge; 
now if the bright edged one should be the first card, of 
course it would lose, and one of the others would win. 
It will be readily seen that in such a case the bettor 
could win as much on the last turn as the banker would 
permit him to bet. 

There is another old plan of snaking cards, which was 
used several years since, which I shall simply mention, 
as I am not sufficiently acquainted with it to explain it 
fully. It is arranged by placing an extra plate in the 
dealing-box, in connection with a large piece of steel 
not larger than a cambric needle. The cards are then cut 
in a peculiar manner on the edges, then the appearance 
and disappearance of this piece of steel denotes the 
cards which will win or lose. This piece of steel is said 
to have resembled a snake's tongue, from the fact of its 
appearing and disappearing so rapidly; and, doubtless, 
this is the reason why the term snaking cards has been 
used ever since. It will now be readily perceived, that 
the uninitiated has no chhnce with the professional 
gambler at this game, if he should play against it or 


36 


THE GAME OF FARO. 


deal it. Many persons lose large amounts of money by 
opening the game of Faro, gamblers presuming that the 
game has the advantage, which it certainly has, if 
played fairly. I have no doubt that there are other 
ways of snaking cards which I am not aware of, as the 
gamblers are constantly making new inventions for the 
purpose of swindling each other at this game. 

With these remarks, I will conclude the subject of 
Faro, and proceed to an exposition of the fraudulent 
character of other popular games. 


Roulette. 


To those familiar with this game, it would seem un¬ 
necessary to use any additional means of swindling, 
Decause the percentage in its favor is very large, so 
much so that the game is very seldom beaten, if played 
on the square. I remember hearing a gambler remark 
once, that the percentage of the game was almost as 
strong as stealing; and, no doubt, he was very correct. 
Although the percentage of this game is so much in 
favor of the hanker, still the gambler is not satisfied, 
and has succeeded in inventing plans whereby he can 
win every bet made against him, if he thinks proper. 

At this game there are thirty-one figures. If the 
bettor should hit a single figure, he is only paid twen¬ 
ty-seven for one; if he should bet on the black 



38 


THE GAME OF ROULETTE. 


or red, lie has the eagle, single 0 and double 0 
against him, which almost precludes the possibility of 
the game being beaten. The first kind of cheating 
roulette I will describe as follows :—The roulette is 
manufactured for the purpose, the machinery being en¬ 
tirely concealed from view. The circular revolving 
wheel, and the rim of this wheel, although moving 
together, and having the appearance of being immova¬ 
bly connected, can be moved either to the right or left, 
while the rim remains stationary; in other words, the 
gambler who manages the game can cause the ball to 
fall in a red or black number, as he may think proper. 
After throwing the ball, the gambler watches the ball 
closely, and if it should fall in the red, and the gambler 
desired it to fall in the black, while the wheel is still 
revolving the ball is quickly changed to the black, 
without its being seen by the bettors, which is done by 
a lever attached to this circular wheel, and connecting: 
with one of the legs of the roulette. This leg has the 
' same appearance as the others, only it is a trifle shorter, 
not quite touching the table on which the roulette rests. 


THE GAME OF ROULETTE. 


39 


The gambler has only to touch this leg, while the wheel 
is revolving, and the ball is changed in a second from 
one color to another, as he may desire. To show how 
rapidly the ball can be changed, I will state that I 
failed to detect it, after having been shown how it was 
managed, and could only observe it when the wheel was 
turned very slowly, in order that I might see distinctly 
how the ball was changed from one color to another. 
I believe this is considered the most ingenious roulette 
of the kind in use. There is another kind of roulette 
which is made in the following manner: One-half of the 
small pieces of metal which separate the figures are 
made a trifle higher than the others; now after the bets 
are down, if the • gambler wishes the ball to fall in the 
red color, he has only to throw the ball round to the 
right hand, and if he wishes it to fall in the black coloi 
he throws the ball to the left. The ball is thrown to the 
right or left, as the gambler may choose, and, of course, 
no one would observe that throwing it to the left would 
cause it to fall on any particular color. It will be seen 
that a person would have no possible chance to win 


40 


THE GAME OF ROULETTE. 


playing against such roulettes as above described, and 
there are a number of them in use, scattered about the 
country. It is an exceedingly dangerous game, and 
should be avoided by every one. 


Chucker Luck, or Sweat Cloth. 


This game is played with three dice and a cloth, on 
which is painted the figures 1, 2, 3, 4,5 and 6. When 
this game is played on the square, the percentage in 
favor of the game is enormous, probably fifty or one 
hundred per cent. Although having such a percentage 
in its favor, this game is seldom or never played fairly. 
Persons who play against this game are swindled in the 
following manner: We will suppose that a bet is 
placed on the six; the gambler, while putting the dice 
in the box, will skillfully conceal one, and sometimes 
two of the dice, in the bend of his little finger, with any 
other number except the six on top; the box is then 
shaken and the dice thrown, the concealed dice being 
held close to the mouth of the box; when th© box is 


42 


THE GAME OF CHUCKER LUCK. 


raised, there are all three of the dice, apparently having 
been thrown honestly. Neither of the one or two dice 
which were hooked will be sixes, thereby reducing the 
chances of the bettor to one dice, which is six to one 
against him. Some gamblers who play this game, have 
a false bottom to the box, which rattles in the absence 
of the dice which are hooked; others can rattle the box 
with their fingers, which sound very much like the dice. 
Others again have a dice suspended about one-third of 
the distance from the bottom to the top of the box, 
which rattles against one dice when two are hooked, 
and, of course, answers the purpose for which it was de¬ 
signed. 

Similar deceptions are practiced at the game called 
over and above seven, and all games where a box and 
dice are used; and the bettor need not expect to detect 
him, because the gambler has become so skillful by 
practice that he will surely deceive him. 

Loaded dice were used years ago, at the games men¬ 
tioned above, but I do not think they are used to a 
great extent at the present time. 


Spout. 


This game is but little played or known. It is about 
the size of a roulette wheel, and shaped something 
similar to a deep tray. Attached to this, on one side, 
is a square spout about a foot long. A ball, on which are 
the colors, black, red, and blue, is thrown up this spout. 
It then runs down in the tray, finally resting with one 
of the three colors above mentioned, on top; the black 
pays even, the red pays two for one, and the blue pays 
five for one; of course, the largest number of colors are 
the blacks, and the smallest number of colors are the 
blues; there are what are termed bars on this ball, and 
if, instead of any color, it should come a black bar, then 
the bets on the red and blue lose, and the bets on the 
black stand off, that is, they neither win nor lose. The 
percentage of this game is enormous, and to make it 



44 


THE GAME OF SPOUT. 


still stronger, tlie gambler has only to change some of 
the colors to bars, which is easily done, the bettors not 
knowing the proper number of bars which should be on 
the ball, and seldom or never inquiring. 

We will now proceed to other popular games, em¬ 
bracing poker or bluff, seven up, vingtun, &c., as played 
by gamblers, and also many other sharpers, who are not - 
recognized as gamblers by the community. 


Poker, or Bluff. 


In most all games of Poker there are generally two or 
more confederates playing together secretly, for the pur¬ 
pose of swindling the other players, as an opportunity 
may offer—while the other persons engaged at the game 
are not aware of it, nor do they even suspect such a 
fraud being practiced upon them. Should I attempt to 
mention all the tricks practiced at this game, it would 
fill a volume almost of itself; therefore, I shall only 
refer to the most important ones. 

At the present day, what is termed draw bluff is 
played more extensively, perhaps, than the old way of 
playing the game. There is a greater variety of ways 
and means used for swindling at draw bluff than at the 
old fashion bluff. If a victim should be very verdant, 
the gambler simply stocks the cards, which is easily 



46 


THE GAME OF POKER, OR BLUFF. 


done by placing them in a desired position while putting 
the hands that have been played in the pack ; then, 
after being shuffled are so left that a partner to the 
right can easily cut to the exact place desired, or if play¬ 
ing single-handed, the cut will be changed by the gamb¬ 
ler placing the deck in the same position as it was before 
being cut. Gamblers also pass cards from one to the 
other secretly, for the purpose of increasing each other's 
hands ; they can also place two or three cards of the 
same size at the bottom, and and shuffle the deck with¬ 
out disturbing them, then the dealer will deal from the 
bottom when he has to give himself a card. Some can 
deal so skillful from the bottom, and even from the mid¬ 
dle of tffe deck, as to defy detection. The gambler will 
sometimes steal out a large hand and secrete it in his 
lap until some one accidentally gets a good hand, then 
he will raise the hand which he secreted in his lap, and 
skillfully drop his legitimate hand where the other was 
raised from. 

Gamblers often deal themselves six cards and some¬ 
times eight, then select the best ones and drop the others 


THE GAME OF POKER, OR BLUFF. 47 

in their lap, to he returned to the deck the first opportu¬ 
nity that offers; should it he ascertained that a victim had 
a considerable amount of money about him, and there are 
two or three gamblers present, he is usually swindled in 
the following outrageous manner with what is termed— 

Cold Decks. 

We will suppose that one or two gamblers are playing 
with a victim ; while they are engaged at play some 
confederate perhaps, in the next room, arranges a deck 
of cards exactly like the one being used so as to give 
the victim a large hand, say four fives, and one of the 
gamblers four tens. This prepared deck is then secretly 
placed in the lap of one of the gamblers. Now, when 
it comes his deal, he takes particular care to shuffle the 
cards well from bottom to top ; then, perhaps, the* vic¬ 
tim cuts them, and the cut is placed at the bottom as it 
should be. At this instant, some confederate attracts 
the attention of the victim, at which time the dealer 
skillfully raises the prepared deck from his lap and 
drops the legitimate deck. The cards are then dealt as 


48 THE GAME OF POKER, OR BLUFF. 

usual, and the victim receives a large hand, hut the 
gambler receives a larger one. Of course, the victim 
bets heavily on his hand, and is fleeced. These cold 
decks are repeated until the victim loses every dollar he 
may have about him ; they are managed in a similar 
manner as draw bluff. 

There mare any persons who think they cannot be 
cheated by a gambler while they are looking at him. I 
will say to such persons, if they play they will certainly 
be swindled in some manner in the end. I have seen 
professional gamblers swindled by raising these cold decks 
on them, which serves to prove that no one is safe, espe¬ 
cially when two or three are combined against one. 

In regard to draw bluff there is usually two or more 
combined to swindle the others, as in most all games. 
A very deceptive advantage at draw bluff is played in 
the following manner : One of the gamblers, when it 
shall have come his deal, will place three or four cards 
of the same kind on top of the deck, then shuffle so as 
not to disturb them—the person to the right then cuts 
them ; the gambler deals with the part of the deck cut 


THE GAME OF POKER, OR BLUFF. 49 

fern, which is correct; then, after making the deal, he 
skilfully places the remainder of the cards under the 
othvr part of the deck, by which means, the confederate 
at h!s left will receive a large Iftmd when he draws. 
Sometimes one of the gamblers, when he deals, will 
place a large hand at the bottom of the deck ; then 
shuffle without disturbing them. Now, should there 
he four playing, a confederate at his right will cut the 
cards about the middle of the deck, the cut will then 
be placed under the bottom, but in such a manner that 
one part of the deck will protrude a very little over the 
other. The cards are then dealt. Now, when a bettor 
draws, either the dealer or his partner can easily get the 
large hand which was placed at the bottom of the deck, 
because, by cutting the deck half way, it will take 
nearly that half to deal to four persons, which, on the 
draw, will throw these cards which have been put at the 
bottom either in the hands of the dealer or his partner. 
In case it is a single-handed game, the gambler will place 
three or four large cards of the same size on top ; then 
shuffle two or three cards over them, and manage the 


50 THE GAME OF POKER, OR BLUFF. 

cards as described above, and these oards which hav? 
been shuffled on top will be drawn by the victim, aid 
the large hand which the gambler put up, will be drpwn 
by him. At other tiiflbs, the dealer will pass out, dien 
secretly place a pair which he may have held, on the 
top of the deck, which his partner to the left will, of 
course, receive on the draw. 

At other times, if the gambler should perceire a large 
card at the bottom of the deck while dealing, he will 
remember it, and when he helps himself, (suppose he 
draws three cards, and this card at the bottom should 
suit him,) he skillfully takes two from the top and this 
one from the bottom, which probably makes him a good 
hand. The gambler will also give himself six or seven 
cards when dealing, which he gets rid of when he dis¬ 
cards for the purpose of drawing; at other times 
he will make a false, discard, that is, discard twice, 
whereby he will certainly get a good hand ; for instance, 
suppose the sharpers should, on the first deal, get four 
hearts and one card of some other suit ; now, if he can 
manage to get a heart on the draw, it makes him a large 


THE GAME OF POKER, OR BLUFF. 51 

hind, and he will he almost sure of getting it, which he 
dob in the following manner : When he discards, he 
will diseard the four hearts, which he throws down in 
front of him ; when he calls for four cards, now it is 
likely that there will be a heart in the four cards which 
he has drawn, and if so, he again discards four cards, 
keeping the heart which he found among them, and takes 
up tho four hearts which he discarded at first, which 
makes his hand a flush! This can easily be done while 
the other players are drawing their hands. 


Stamped Cards. 


i -- 

Besides practicing hundreds of tricks and deceptions 
of this character, they use something else which cannot 
be seen or detected, and this is stamped and marked 
cards. These stamped cards are made with some pecu¬ 
liarity on their backs, which causes them to be as readi¬ 
ly known by the backs as the faces. Gamblers usually 
get up the stamp, and they are manufactured by certain 
parties in New York and other large cities. Their cost 
is about double the amount of common, cards. The 
marked cards are marked by the gamblers themselves, 
ordinary cards being used for that purpose. There are 
various ways of marking them which could not be de¬ 
tected, if looked for, unless by the professional gambler. 
It would occupy too much time and space to describe 
every stamp of marked cards; and, besides, I am in- 



STAMPED CARDS. 


53 


dined to the opinion that I should not be performing 
my duty should I do so, hut I will here state that there 
is not any kind of card sold at any bookstore, but what 
an exact pattern of it can be purchased already stamped, 
so as to be known by the backs as well as the faces. 
These stamped cards are getting to be circulated 
quite extensively through the country by sharpers and 
others, who are not suspected of using unfair cards; 
they cannot be distinguished from a fair card, and any 
one can easily learn them with practice, so as to read 
them very rapidly. 

These cards are known more or less by all professional 
gamblers, though many sharpers are beaten with stamp¬ 
ed cards. Of course the professional gamblers endeavor 
to keep the existence of stamped cards a secret from 
outsiders, but gamblers sometimes make associates of 
persons who are not known as gamblers, and finally 
show such persons some kind of marked or stamped 
cards, and thus it becomes known to many persons who 
are never suspected. These kinds of cards are used at 
all games, especially at the games of bluff, vingt-un, &c, 


54 


STAMPED CARDS. 


As this is simply written for the purpose of exposing 
the fraudulent character of gaming, I do not deem it 
advisable to mention the names of any parties who 
manufacture such cards, or where they may be procured. 
We will now proceed to the game of vingt-un or twenty- 
one, which is a very popular game. 


Vingt-un, or Twenty-one. 


As most every person is acquainted with this game, it 
is not necessary to describe it. It is well known that 
the dealer has a large percentage in his favor, hut the 
gambler is not satisfied with this percentage, but can 
easily have the game sure whenever he deals it. At all 
games of vingt-un by gamblers, either stamped or marked 
cards are always used. Usually, at this game, the 
dealer has a capper who sits at his right hand, who will 
draw until a card, which is on top, shall suit his hand, 
which can be easily done so that the other bettors would 
never suspect that any fraudulent means were being 
used. At other times (when he has no capper), if the top 
card should not suit his hand, he will take the second 
one from the top, which can be done so skillfully as to 
defy detection, or while he is dealing the hands, if he 



56 THE GAME OF VINGT-UN, OR TWENTY-ONE. 

should discover a card which would suit his hand, he 
will keep it hack for himself, by dealing the second card 
to the bettors. 

Should some one of the bettors insist that the dealer 
shall use another deck which may be square, it will not 
avail him, because in a little while the dealer will suc¬ 
ceed in marking the entire deck with his finger nail, so 
as to be recognized by their touch, which is done by 
pressing the finger nail near the corners on the 
face of the cards, whieh can be readily felt on the 
back and recognized, as well as by the faces. Some¬ 
times this game is played by dealing from the bottom 
instead of the top, which is the usual way. In this case 
many persons would suppose that if the dealer knew the 
cards by the back, the knowledge would be of no service 
to him, as the cards could not be seen from the bottom; 
but this is a mistake, for the gamester can tell the size 
of each card by the touch as if he saw the face of it; 
this is usually done by sanding the cards on their faces, 
near their corners, with a piece of sand-paper, which 
makes them rough on their faces, and then they can 


THE GAME OF VINGT-UN, OR TWENTY-ONE. 


57 


readily be told by feeling of them. This game is usual¬ 
ly played on race-tracks, steamboats, &c., and may al¬ 
ways be safely put down as a swindle. It will readily 
be seen that this is a dangerous game, and should always 
be avoided. The next game, which I shall mention, is 
seven up, or all fours. 


Seven Up, or All Fours. 


This is also a poiDular game, and often played for 
large amounts, hut like all other games, there are hun¬ 
dreds of ways whereby the gambler and sharper always 
swindle the uninitiated. Stamped cards are often used 
at this game, besides many other advantages, among 
which I shall mention some of the most prominent ones. 
First there is played what is termed the whole and the 
half-stock, but the half-stock can be played with less 
chance of detection than the whole-stock, as will be seen 
by reading this explanation. The whole-stock is man¬ 
aged in a similar manner as they are stocked at bluff or 
poker. The cards are placed on top, so that the dealer, 
or his partner, will receive a good hand after certain 
cards are placed on top of the deck as desired; the deck 



SEVEN UP, OR ALL FOURS. 


59 


is shuffled so that these cards are not disturbed, then 
after being cut, instead of placing the cut under the 
bottom, it is skillfully changed back to the top, which 
leaves the top cards in the same position as they were 
first arranged. The half-stock is played in the follow¬ 
ing manner:—We will suppose that the gambler is 
playing alone with some victim; when it is the gam¬ 
bler's deal he will secretly get hold of a jack and six 
other cards, including the ace and deuce of the same 
sort as the jack—the jack being placed at the bottom of 
these seven cards, and the ace and deuce next to it; 
these seven cards are then placed on top of the deck, 
which is shuffled without disturbing them. The cards 
are then cut and dealt, the part of the deck which has 
been cut off, remaining on the table; after the cards are 
dealt the dealer changes the trump-card skillfully from 
• the part of the deck to which it belongs, to the part of 
the deck first cut off. Now should the victim beg, the 
dealer will run them, aud turn a jack and get the ace 
and deuce of trumps, if none others. 

Tht gambler can also steal cards out of the deck while 


60 


SEVEN UP, OR ALL FOURS. 


playing for the purpose of making a good hand. The 
cards usually stole out for this purpose are the aces and 
deuces, because they are the most valuable ; then, when 
the victim deals the gambler supplies his hand with 
those which he has stolen from the deck, and those 
which he has discarded he secretes in his lap, to be re¬ 
turned to the deck on the first opportunity. This can 
be played upon the uninitiated very *readily without de¬ 
tection. Some gamblers can conceal a card in the palm 
of the hand to be used for the purpose without being 
detected. 

Another advantage played by gamblers is to place one 
or more tens at the bottom of the deck, and then so 
shuffle as not to disturb them ; after they are cut and 
dealt, he will know if these tens are out, and who has 
them : he tells this by observing where the cards are cut. 
If his opponent holds these tens he will not lead the suit 
corresponding with them, thus preventing his opponent 
from making them ; if these two should be in the deck, 
he will lead the corresponding suit, and not lead any 
other, if possible. Any person acquainted with the 


SEVEN UP, OR ALL FOURS. 


61 


game will readily perceive the advantage of this trick 
to the gambler, as the game is the most important point 
to be made, because the other three points will make 
themselves. 

Most any professional gamester can turn up a jack 
every time he deals, and as this is a very important feature 
of the game I will describe the different ways by which 
it is accomplished : Sometimes, if the victim is very 
verdant, the gamester will attract his attention at the 
instant he is about turning the trump, then skillfully 
draw the card from the bottom (which is the jack) and 
turn it up as if it had been the legitimate top card. 
Another and a still better plan is this : first a jack is 
placed at the bottom of the deck while shuffling ; then, 
when the cards are cut, the gamester deals from the 
bottom portion of the deck, which is correct; now, the 
gamester, in giving himself his last three cards, places his 
middle finger on the bottom card of the deck, and as he 
takes his three cards from the top, he also brings this 
bottom one forward, directly under the three, so that it 
cannot be seen ; he now has four cards in his hand ; he 


62 


SEVEN UP, OR ALL FOURS. 


then gives himself the three top ones, and turns up the 
fourth one for trumps, which, of course, is the jack 
which he has taken so skillfully from the bottom with his 
finger. Another plan is to mark the jacks so that they 
can be recognized by the backs ; then, while dealing, if 
the gamester should discover a jack, he can easily keep 
it back by dealing the three cards underneath it; then, 
after dealing, he turns it up for a trump, which, of 
course, counts him one point immediately. Some 
gamesters are so skillful that they can conceal a jack in 
the hand, and shuffle and deal without its being seen, 
then turn it up as a trump. At other times they deal 
themselves seven cards, or more, and drop those they do 
not want in their lap. 


The Long Hand of Seven Up. 

As this deception is practiced to a very great extent 
on the uninitiated by gamblers and sharpers, I will de¬ 
scribe the mode of operation. Of course it is a swindle 



SEVEN UP, OR ALL FOURS. 


63 


of the most outrageous character, and about on a par 
with the ball game, thimbles, &c., and usually played 
by the lowest order of gamesters ; hut most any of them 
will play it when they can get nothing else to do, or if 
they are broke. This game is usually played on race 
tracks, steamboats, and often in gaming houses. It is • 
played in the following manner : We will suppose that 
a roper in should pick up a sucker and succeed in enticing 
him to a gaming house ; and on arriving there, if the 
sucker could not be induced to play against faro, he 
would be invited to play a game of all fours for a trifle, 
perhaps a quarter or a half, the amount being nothing, 
as the object in view is to get him to play one game. 
The sharp will then call for a deck of cards which has 
been prepared for such occasions, by arranging the cards 
in such a position that both of them will receive good 
hands, but the sucker will hold the ace, deuce, jack, and 
other trumps and face cards, indicating that he could 
make four times certain. The' sharp will ask the sucker 
how many times he can make ; when, of course, he will 
reply that he can make four times certain. Sharper 


64 


SEVEN UP, OR ALL FOURS. 


will then offer to make a bet that sucker cannot make 
four times, and as he does not suspect fraud if he has 
never seen the trick before, he will almost be sure to be 
caught, as he will consider that it is a good chance to 
make some money easy. If he makes a bet he is 
swindled, as he can only make high, low and jack, when 
the sharp will make game by one or two points, thereby 
making it appear that he won by chance. After the 
game has concluded; some victims, suspecting fraud, will 
endeavor to regain their money, but seldom succeed— 
while others willjiever suspect but that the whole affair 
was chance, and in all probability will never mention 
the circumstance to any one. The writer has known 
many intelligent gentlemen who have been swindled at 
this game. 

At other times, if the victim refuses to play, a game 
of all fours will be proposed by two of the gamesters 
who may be present, and his attention will be called to 
this large hand, (described above,) and he will be induced 
to bet that four times can be made with it, when he will 
lose as in the other case. 


Three Card Monte. 


This game is of the same stamp as the long hand of 
seven up. It is played with three cards, which are bent 
so as to rest on the two edges; first they are all placed 
on a table, face down, then one of the cards, will be 
shown to those who may be standing by. The gamester 
will tell them to watch that card particularly and he 
proceeds to throw the cards over each other very rapid¬ 
ly for a short time, when he stops and offers to bet that 
no person can point out the card which was shown at 
first. It is not probable that any bystanders will bet 
unless it be a confederate, as the chances would be two 
to one against him in guessing one out of the three 
cards ; but now I shall expose the fraudulent character 
of this game. We will suppose that the three cards 



66 THE GAME OF THREE CARD MONTE. 

which the gamester uses, are the ace, deuce and tray; 
while he is endeavoring to get a bet, he will turn his 
head away from the cards a moment under some pre¬ 
tence, and as he does so, an accomplice quickly marks 
the back of the ace with a pencil, and then calls the at¬ 
tention of the most verdant looking bystander to this 
fact, and tells him, in a whisper, that he has marked 
the back of one of the cards, and that if the gamester 
will show this card, then he may throw them about as 
rapidly as he chooses, but the card can be pointed out, 
from the fact of its having been marked on the back 
without the gamester's knowledge. The victim will 
eagerly embrace the opportunity of getting the best of 
the gamester, and probably will propose a bet with him, 
that he can point out either card which he may show when 
the victim accepts the bet. The victim then requests 
the gambler to show the card that has been marked, 
which he readily does, to all appearances, but instead of 
doing so he skillfully changes the ace which is marked, 
and shows the victim the deuce instead. The gambler 
then throws the cards rapidly over each other, then stops 


THE GAME OF THREE CARD MONTE. 67 

and requests the victim to put his hand on the card 
which was shown at first, when the victim will, of 
course, put his hand on the card which he saw marked, 
and turns it face up, when, to his surprise, it proves to 
he the ace instead of the deuce, and the victim loses his 
bet, and is, thereby, swindled. The fraudulent charac¬ 
ter of this trick will be readily understood by the reader. 
Sometimes an accomplice will go through the process of 
marking the card, &c., then make a bet and win, for the 
purpose of inducing others to risk their money. There 
maybe persons, after reading this, who may say that 
they never could be swindled fit such a trick as this; 
but the writer can assure such persons that hundreds of 
intelligent persons are swindled at this trick, annually, 
in every section of the country, by gamblers and sharp¬ 
ers ; in fact, there are but few persons who are inclined 
to bet, and who have never seen the trick performed, 
but who will be deceived and lose their money on it. 
These facts have been proved by thousands of actual 


occurrences. 


Race Courses, Mysteries of the 
Turf, &c. 


I presume that it will be conceded, that so far as re¬ 
gards simply witnessing the speed of horses on a race 
course or elsewhere, that there cap be no material harm 
done in so doing, but there are secrets connected with 
the race track which the^greater portion of outsiders are 
not aware of, and I shall lay before the reader some 
hints in relation to this subject, which may be beneficial 
to him in the future; and I wish to be distinctly under¬ 
stood, that these remarks are not based upon any false 
prejudices, which a person might entertain in relation 
to the turf, but on the contrary, I shall speak from ac¬ 
tual observation and partial knowledge of the facts of 
the case. It is probable that there are some proprietors 
o^race courses, who act in an honest and correct man- 



RACE COURSES, MYSTERIES OF THE TURF, &C. 69 

ner in all business relations to the turf, &c., but the 
same cannot be said of the greater portion of them. It 
may not universally be known that the larger portion of 
race course proprietors and others who are secretly con¬ 
nected with them, are either gamblers or sharpers, which 
fact speaks volumes for itself. I believe it is a well 
established fact, that there never has been a game yet 
known, where money was risked, that the professional 
gamester and sharper did not succeed in inventing ways 
and means whereby they might swindle the verdant and 
unsuspecting, and it would be folly to suppose that the 
race track, with all its attendant vices, should be an ex¬ 
ception to this established rule. In connection with 
this subject, I will mention that one of the most exten¬ 
sive and popular turfmen of this country is a notorious 
gambler and sharper,, and commenced his career by 
practicing the lowest and most degrading species of 
gaming known to gamblers, such as thimbles and 
various other species of swindling of a like character. 
This individual is supposed to be wealthy, and asso¬ 
ciates with persons who are presumed to be gentlemen. 


70 RACE COURSES, MYSTERIES OF THE TURF, &C. 

He has even crossed the Atlantic, and associated with 
and made bets with Lords and Dukes, and recognized 
as a gentleman. Now a young man, who becomes in¬ 
fatuated with the vices of a race course farther than 
witnessing the speed of a favorite horse, cannot predict 
the ruinous results which are sure to follow. 

A person may bet another, who is equally as verdant 
as himself about such matters, and in such a case the 
chances would be equal as to which would win or lose, 
but the great harm done in this case is, that a love of 
betting and gaming is contracted, which is difficult to 
abstain from at any future time. After a while, our 
verdant friends will make bets indiscriminately with any 
person, then they fall into the clutches of the gamester 
and sharper, when they are fleeced nine times in ten, be¬ 
cause when a professional gambler or sharper makes a 
bet" with a person who is ignorant of the subject in 
question, he is almost sure to have the game dead. In 


RACE COURSES, MYSTERIES OF THE TURF, &C. 71 

most cases, many gamblers and sharpers receive points 
in relation to the race, or, in plain English, they are 
posted as to which horse will win, and often the horse 
that will win or lose each heat. This proceeding is 
managed in different ways; sometimes it is managed by 
one or both of the proprietors, and at other times it is 
done by bribing a certain rider to throw off a certain 
heat, or, perhaps, the race entire. This may be done, 
sometimes, without the knowledge of the proprietors. 
At other times a favorite horse will be secretly visited 
before the race, and some medical preparation adminis¬ 
tered to him, which will produce weakness and general 
debility, and if not discovered, will, in every probability, 
lose the race, and if the owner is obliged to play or pay, 
there is no way to avoid being swindled, even if the 
fraud is discovered before the race takes place. It will 
oe perceived that an outsider's chance for winning would 
be very limited in such cases where such outrageous 


72 RACE COURSES, MYSTERIES OF THE TURF, &C. 

frauds are practiced. It is well known that when a race 
is announced it is a signal for the assembly of all the 
pickpockets, thieves, and gamblers of every grade, from 
the three card monte and thimble player to the faro 
dealer, which, so far as regards its fraudulent character, 
is no less a swindle than the former games. The gam¬ 
blers pay the proprietors of a race course such an 
amount for the privilege of carrying on their fraudulent 
games, and they can afford to pay a good price for such 
privilege, as they are well aware that out of such a con¬ 
course of people as usually attend such places, there 
must be many who will patronize them through igno¬ 
rance and a natural love of betting, no matter whether 
they understand the game or not. In some cases, the 
proprietors of the course are interested in the games. 
It will be observed that no good results can follow from 
habitually visiting race courses in general, and the 
young man who does so, will, in all probability, contract 


RACE COURSES, MYSTERIES OF THE TURF, &C. 73 

vices which will he exceedingly difficult, if not impossi¬ 
ble, to eradicate. 

These remarks are made by one who is posted on such 
matters, and who speaks with the kindest feelings to 
young men universally, and would call their particular 
attention to this subject. Profit by the hints herein 
given, and you will never have cause to repent the course 
you will have adopted. 


The Arm Strap. 


I will here give a description of a very ingenious 
thing made by a man in the Prison of Sing Sing, who 
was a gambler by profession, but was driven to despera¬ 
tion and committed forgery, and was 'sentenced for 
seven years, and while confined, his mind was wholly on 
the game of faro, and was continually studying how to 
beat it, and invented the following thing, which is made 
in the following way:—By taking two pieces of tin, a 
little wider than a common playing card, and joining 
them together closely, leaving room enough to hold from 
six to eight cards, while on the bottom is a spring act- 



THE ARM STRAP. 


75 


ing on the ends of the cards. This spring is made to 
work about an inch, with force enough to throw the 
cards out, and fastened to this tin are two straps, which 
fasten it tight on the arm, and leading from this spring 
is a small India rubber cord, which runs to the middle 
finger, and a person using this should have a cap on the 
middle finger, to make it appear as if the finger was 
sore, to allay suspicion. This cord is made fast to the 
cap on the finger, and by bending the finger forward it 
pulls this cord, which immediately works the spring, and 
throws the cards out; and a person cutting a pack of 
cards by this means, can ring in on the dealer some six 
cards, and they can be done so that no man can detect 
it. I have set and seen men cut the cards a dozen 
times, and could not detect him or hear the spring work. 
The person betting against faro has the privilege of 
cutting the cards, and with one of those things he could 
ruin the dealer, providing there was no limits to the 


76 


THE ARM STRAP. 


game. This can also be used in playing poker, and 
giving your adversary four kings and yourself four aces, 
by slipping the cut or top, but could not play it but 
once in faro, as the cards would come out wrong, and 
would be detected. 


The Convex, or Dog eat Dog 


I will here give a description of a very ingenious 
thing used by gamblers, called a convex, which is about 
the size of a half dollar, and is a very powerful magnifying 
glass, used only in cases of playing single handed, and 
is placed upon the knee, and as the cards are dealt oif, 
one at a time, the person having the convex can see the 
face of the card magnified, which is a very great advan¬ 
tage, but it is of very little use in playing four handed, 
as it is very likely to be seen, but single handed, it 
is of great help to the gambler. 

I was once traveling from St. Louis to Peru, at the 
head of the Illinois River, some ten years since. Among 



78 THE CONVEX, OR DOG EAT DOG. 

the passengers was quite an aged man, who allowed he 
could beat any man on the boat at seven up, providing 
he could play his own kind of cards. There were sever¬ 
al gentlemen aboard who had tried him, and he was 
some four hundred dollars winner. I asked him to let 
me look at his cards; I examined them very closely, 
but could not discover any stamp or marks upon them, 
and it was quite a mystery to me, how he should have 
such extraordinary luck. I still thought he could be 
beat. I told him after tea I would try him a few 
games, and he appeared to have plenty of money, but I 
did not take him to be a gambler. I went to the Cap¬ 
tain and asked him if he knew the old man ? He said 
he had seen him often on the river, but did not think he 
was a gambler. But I thought he might have taken 
higher degrees in gaming than I had, and I was rather 
suspicious of him; however, after supper was over, and 
there had been several games started, I told him we 


THE CONVEX, OR DOG EAT DOG. 79 

would go away by ourselves, as I could not play where 
there was a crowd; he said he preferred being alone. 
We then went away by ourselves, and sat directly under 
the chandelier, where we had plenty of light, and com¬ 
menced playing at ten dollars a single game, and he won 
several games in succession. 

I was then satisfied that he was playing some per 
centage on me but was at a loss to detect him. I made 
an excuse to get up and get a drink of water, and 
stepped out on the guards and into my state-room and 
opened my trunk, and got my convex, and went back and 
told the old man he was the hardest man to beat I ever 
saw ; he said it was all luck. I asked him if he could 
play poker with the same luck; he said he knew no 
other game ; we then played another game for ten dol¬ 
lars, and I lost as before. I then proposed doubling the 
stakes, as it might change my luck ; he said it was im¬ 
material to him as he would just as soon play for a 


80 


THE CONVEX, OR DOG EAT DOG. 


hundred dollars as ten ; we then made it fifty dollars a 
game, as it would make a shorter game. I then dropped 
one of the cards, and while picking it up, put my convex 
on my knee. We then commenced playing—he winning 
the first game ; he was then one hundred and ten dollars 
ahead of me ; we then kept playing until about twelve 
o'clock, when the steward came to uS and said it was 
twelve o'clock, and it was against the rules of the boat 
to play longer. I said we had better wait until morning, 
and get a .good night's sleep, as we would feel better ; 
he wished to continue playing ; I said we had better 
conform to the rules of the boat; he said he was willing 
if it was the rules of the boat, hut he had traveled the 
Western rivers for the last twenty years and had never 
heard of such rules before ; I was then convinced he was 
an old gambler ; hut, before that, I had made up my 
mind I would play no more with him after that night ; 
we then took a drink, and each went to bed ; when I 


THE CONVEX, OR DOG EAT DOG. 


81 


got into my state-room, I found I was seven hundred and 
fifty dollars winner of him. The next morning, after I 
arose and got my breakfast, a gentleman asked me how 
I came out with the old man ; I told him I had won a 
little ; he asked me how much; I told him I did not 
exacly know, hut in the neighborhood of a hundred dol¬ 
lars ; he said .1 was a lucky man, as I was the first man 
he ever knew that won a dollar of him ; I asked him if 
he was acquainted with him; he said he had known him 
for the last twenty years, and told me his name, and 
when I heard his name, I remembered of hearing of him 
before as an old gambler, whc^had ten years' experience 
to my one ; but the improvements of the age had got 
the start of him, as he had been travelling through 
Mexico for the last five years, and was not posted. 
Just before the boat reached Peoria he came to me 
and asked my name ; I told him; he as*ked me 
which way I was going ; I told him I was bound for 


82 


THE CONVEX, OR DOG EAT DOG. 


Chicago ; he said he had to leave the boat at Peoria, 
and had to stop and see a brother who was very sick, but 
he would be on to Chicago in a few days, and would like 
to see me ; I told him I would stop at the Sherman 
House, where he could see me, but he never called. I* 
was a mystery to me how he beat me—but a greatei 
mystery to him how I beat him. 


The Broker’s Game. 


The Broker’s Game is generally played by one person, 
and mostly on the cars, and just as they are about start¬ 
ing, in the following way : A man wilt come in and 
appear to be in quite a hurry and take a seat by your 
side, and ask how long before the train will start, know¬ 
ing himself it is upon the point of starting ; if he gets 
an answer in the affirmative, he will say he has a small 
bill to pay, and ask where he can find the the conductor, 
as he wants change for a ten dollar bill; he then says to 
you, will you be good enough to give me the change, as 
it will be a great accommodation to me, as the gentleman 
is in the depot waiting for me. If you should doubt 



84 


THE BROKER'S GAME. 


the genuineness- of the hill, he will say he took it of the 
conductor or some other person that is perfectly good. 
If he should want a ten changed, and you should say 
you only had seven or eight dollars, he will say he can 
get along with that, and say, please let me have that 
and take the hill and keep it until the conductor comes 
round again, and I will have him change it and 
return you the change. When the conductor comes 
round, the geittleman with your money is in some other 
place ; very frequently when you take out your pocket- 
hook to make change, he will get you confused and you 
will make a mistake, and he will prohahly get thirty or 
forty dollars for ten ; and frequently, when they come 
across a man who they find has plenty of money, and 
not used to counting his money, they will sometimes 
palm four or five hills besides getting their change. This 
palming is done in the following way : Take a hill and 
rollit up in a very small space and work it in the palm ot 
their hand, and from there slip it into their sleeve. 


THE BROKER'S GAME. 


85 


The men who generally play these games are shrewd 
and sharp men. It requires a man of very good ad¬ 
dress, as they have to approach men, and sometimes find 
smart men to deal with; a man of about fifty or sixty 
years of age, is the most suitable person, and a man of 
gray hair, as he is above suspicion. The money 
used by these men is bills of some broken or worthless 
bank, such as the Tiverton Bank of Khode Island, and 
the Bank of Massilon, Massilon, Ohio, and any bank 
where the bills look well; they prefer bills with the 
figures stamped on in red, as it gives the bills a good 
appearance. I was traveling from Albany to New 
York, by the Hudson River Railroad. I had just 
taken my seat in the cars, and an old gentleman had 
seated himself just ahead of me, when a very genteel 
looking man stepped up to him and asked him if the 
seat was all taken. The old gentleman told him it was 
not, and gave him half of the seat, when he entered into 


86 


THE BROKER'S GAME. 


conversation with him; I saw the old man pull out his 
pocket-book and appear to be making change, when the 
man got up and walked out of the car. A gentleman 
in the seat ahead of him, asked him if he knew that 
man. He said he had seen him once before, and he 
had not made much out of him; that he had seen him 
some days' before, and he had tried the same game on 
him, and as he had just left home, he thought he might 
see him again, and was prepared for him; this man was 
the sheriff of Onondaga county, and the money he gave 
the sharper was two counterfeit five dollar bills, which 
he had taken from a prisoner, and received a ten dollar 
bill worth ten cents on the dollar. The sharper had 
found his match. 


The Bogus Cheek Game. 


This is played in a different way from tlie Broker's 
Game, but is of the same stamp, and requires two men 
to play it. If it is played for any amount, the sharper 
finds his victim, and engages him in conversation, and 
finds out where he is going ; sharper says he is bound 
for the same place, is a man of means, and is going to 
buy land or cattle. When he thinks he has the confi¬ 
dence of his victim he will give a sign to his partner, who 
will come up and appear to be looking for him, and 
when he spies him he is very glad to see him, and pulls 
out a large pocket or memorandum-book and commences 



88 


THE BOGUS CHECK GAME. 


looking over his ■ papers ; he soon finds the right one, 
which is his hill of goods he has purchased of sharper 
No. 1 ; No. 2 takes the hill and looks over it, pronoun¬ 
ces it all right, and says he has not the money with him, 
hut has a check for five hundred or a thousand* dollars ; 
No. 1 says, you had better take the check and give me 
the balance in money. If the hill of goods should 
amount to two hundred dollars, and the check should 
he for five hundred, he, of course would want three 
hundred dollars hack; No. 2 would say he had no such 
amount of money with him, hut would he very glad to 
get the check, as it was better to him than money, for 
he wanted to send it East, when No. 1 will turn to the 
victim and ask him to he good enough to cash it for 
him, and he will allow him ten dollars for his trouble. 
If he should say he did not have as much money with 
him, he will ask how much he has ; and if he should 
say he only had one or two hundred dollars with him, 


THE BOGUS CHECK GAME. 


89 


he would ask him to lend him that, and he could 
keep the check as security, until they arrived at 
their destination, when he would go to the hank 
with him and get it cashed, and 9 pay him for his 
trouble. 

This game was played very successfully in New York, 
in the years of 1855-56, also in Cleveland, Ohio, and 
to a great extent in Chicago, as any person that has 
read the papers may know; but there are hundreds of 
people swindled who never make their loss known, who 
had rather suffer the Joss than have the public know 
they could be so easily duped. I knew a man in Cin¬ 
cinnati, who lived in Kentucky, that was swindled by 
one of these shakers on the Jacob Struder, the mail- 
boat that runs between Cincinnati and Louisville. He 
was beat out of five hundred dollars in the following 
manner:—The victim was talking with a man on the 
levee, and had just left him, when the sharper stepped 


90 


THE BOGUS CHECK GAME. 


up to the man he had been talking with, and asked 
the victim's name; he told him who he was, and that 
he lived in Lexington, Kentucky. The sharper excused 
himself, and said he must have been mistaken in the 
man—left, and went aboard of the boat. When the 
boat was almost ready to start, he went to his partner 
and told him he had not the amount of money with 
him, which was three hundred dollars, but that he had 
a check for five hundred dollars on the Bank in Lexing¬ 
ton, and number two had no money to pay the differ¬ 
ence; he turned to the victim, and asked him if he 
thought he would have time to run up to the bank and 
get it cashed. The victim told him he thought not, as 
the boat would soon leave, and said If it would accom¬ 
modate him, he would cash his check. Number one 
said it would be a great accommodation. He counted 
him out five hundred dollars in current funds and the 


THE BOGUS CHECK GAME. 


91 


sharpers left. A gentleman who knew the sharpers 
and saw the whole transaction, stepped up to the vic¬ 
tim and told him he was swindled. He said it was 
nobody's business hut his own, and took no further 
notice of it. 


The Five Aces. 


This game is generally played in bar-rooms and on 
steamboats, and is considered a very desperate game; a 
man that is beat at this game knows, in an instant, that 
he has been swindled. This game was invented, it is 
said, by the celebrated Burt Mackay, while confined in 
the jail at Cincinnati, and is played in the following 
way:—The sharper calls to the bar-keeper for a new 
pack of cards; after taking out the four aces, he cuts 
the cards in two parts, and takes two aces and shows 
them to the victim, lays them on the top of the cut, and 
takes the other two and cut, and turns his back to the 
victim while doing so ; the capper, in a smiling way, 
takes one of the aces off and puts it in the victim's 



THE FIVE ACES. 


93 


bosom ; then the sharper turns round and takes the 
same two cards off, shows them to the victim, and says, 
you see those two aces, when there is but one ; he then 
takes the other, cut and puts them together, shuffles 
them, and offers to bet any amount of money the four 
aces will come out together ; the victim knows they 
cannot, as he has one in his bosom, and readily offers to 
bet—the capper always acting as stakeholder. When 
the bet is made and the money up, the sharper will run 
over the cards, and the four aces will come out all right, 
as he puts one in to correspond with the one the capper 
takes out; he has the cards arranged with the bar-keeper 
previously, and they most generally get a share of the 
proceeds. It is a game well calculated to deceive, and I 
have seen thousands of dollars change hands upon it. 


The Ring G-ame. 


The Ring G-ame is played by two persons in the fol¬ 
lowing way : The roper gets the victim, and ropes him 
off for a walk ; during the walk, the capper is ahead, 
and at a given signal from him, such as raising the hat 
with the left hand, he drops a pocket-book, and walks a 
short distance ahead until he sees his partner pick it up, 
when he immediately starts back and meets them, and 
pretends to be looking for something ; the roper asks it 
he has lost anything ; he says he has lost a pocket-book 
with two valuable gold rings he bought for presents to 
his sisters, and would like to find them ; the roper says 
he had jilst picked up a pocket-book, but it only had 



THE RING ‘GAME. 


95 


one ring in it; the capper says he is mistaken, and he 
is positive there are two rings in it, and offers to bet any 
amount on it. The roper turns to the victim and says 
we can make something out of this fellow, and previous 
to the capper coming up, after dropping the pocket-book, 
the roper opens the pocket-book, takes a ring out and 
hands it to the victim, and tells him to put it in his 
pocket, which he does ; when the bet is made and the 
money up, the roper always acting as stakeholder, the 
capper takes the ring of the victim which was previously 
taken out of the pocket-book, and then opens the book, 
nnd from a little secret place, made 'for the purpose, 
takes out another ring, a fuc simile of the other, and 
then shows them both to the roper and victim; says he 
has won the money, which the roper hands him, the vic¬ 
tim wondering how the other ring came there. 

In the summer of 1856, while stopping at Saratoga 
Springs, I was walking one morning quite early, on the 


96 


THE RING GAME. 


grounds back of the Congress Spring, when I espied, a 
short distance ahead of me, two well-known sharpers? 
having a victim in tow ) I concluded I would watch 
them and see what game they intended playing on him, 
when I saw the capper walking back looking for some¬ 
thing ; and there appeared to be a peculiar look to the 
victim, as he did not appear to be of the right stamp 
for such men to work upon ; the capper came up and 
the roper asked him if he had lost anything ; he said he 
had lost a pocket-book with two valuable gold rings, but 
the pocket-book he did not care anything about ; the 
roper said he had found a pocket-book, but it had only 
one ring in it; the capper said he would bet one hund¬ 
red dollars there was two rings in it; the roper turns to 
the victim and tells him there is a chance to make one 
hundred dollars ; the victim says I have a great notion 
to bet him a hundred ; the roper says it is a sure thing 
to win ; the victim then says he will bet, and pulls out 


THE RING GAME. 


97 


his pocket-book and counts out ten ten dollar bills on 
the Unadilla Bank, of Otsego county ; the capper put 
up five twenty dollar gold pieces. The capper took 
the pocket-book and found the other ring, when the vic¬ 
tim turned round and said he had learned that game 
cheap, and walked away ; the sharpers turned and went 
to their hotel. 

I saw them a short time after, and they asked me if 
I had seen that gentleman they had met in the morn¬ 
ing ; I told them I had not, and asked them why ; they 
then asked me if I was good judge of money; I told 
them I was ; they then asked me to look at the money ; 
when I told them every dollar was counterfeit. 


Dropping the Pigeon, or Heeling. 


This is a very old game ; but like all others they find 
some person every day who never saw it before, and learn 
it to their sorrow. It is played by two persons, in the 
following manner : They find their victim and rope him 
off for a walk ; one goes ahead, and at a sign from the 
other drops the pocket-book, or pigeon, and the victim 
and roper come along and pick it up ; the roper opens it 
and says to the victim, we have found a good pile, now, 
I can't stay in town, and you give me fifty or a hundred 
dollars and you can keep it, and when the owner adver¬ 
tises it, and offers a reward which will be a large one 
for such an amount of money, you can get the re- 



DROPPING THE PIGEON, OR HEELING. 99 

ward; if the victim gives the amount out readily, the 
roper generally tries him for another ten or twenty ; the 
victim gives the money out readily to get rid of the roper, 
as he thinks he can have the money all to himself, and 
never thinks of returning it, even should there be a re¬ 
ward offered. The money used in filling the pocket- 
books is generally some broken or worthless bank notes 
or counterfeit. 


Watch Stuffing. 


This is a very old dodge which most everybody has 
heard of, but few know how it is played. I will here 
state where these watches are made,-and what they are 
made of. Some ten or fifteen years since, the watches 
that were sold, were mostly German silver cases, with 
,ommon quartier movements, and were mostly made in 
Germany and Switzerland, and cost from two dollars and 
fifty cents up to six dollars, with hunting cases and the 
movements capped to imitate patent lever movements ; 
but as gold watches became more plenty and fashionable, 
they went out of date. The German silver cased watches 
were sold by watch stuffers at from ten to thirty dollars, 
about the same as a good silver watch with lever move- 



WATCH STUFFING. 


101 


ments ; afterwards, when gold watches became so fash¬ 
ionable, they made the cases of brass and copper, some¬ 
times very highly finished and fire gilded. These brass 
watches are made in the same places and by the same 
firms as the German silver cased watches ; the difference 
in the cost is but little more, except where they are 
plated with gold ; some are got up in good style, costing 
as high as fifteen dollars, and it takes a good judge to 
tell the difference, excepting in the movements, which 
are sometimes quartier and some cylinder escapement, 
made to read on the inside cap patent lever. The houses 
importing these watches are mostly located in Maiden 
Lane, New York City ; and there is no inconsiderable 
trade carried on in this line, and I don’t think I would 
be far out of the way if should say there was two hund¬ 
red thousand dollars worth imported every year into the 
City of New York alone, as that place supplies the 
United States. 



102 


WATCH STUFFING. 


This game is played in the following manner : There 
is one who is termed’ the seller, and the other the capper;■ 
the seller carries the watches. The principal places of 
playing this game is at railroad depots and steamboat 
landings, on the departure of the cars and boats. The 
seller finds his victim and asks him when the boat is 
going out and where he is going ; the seller is bound for 
the same place, but he thinks he will have to wait for 
another boat, as he has met with bad luck ; the victim 
asks him in what manner ; he tells him he has lost his 
pocket-book with all his money, and has his mother and 
sisters with him, and cannot go any farther ; he then 
shows the victim a splendid watch, which he says was 
left him by his deceased father, and will have to sell it 
to get to his destination ; he then shows it to the vic¬ 
tim, who sometimes will buy it without the capper in¬ 
terfering, but if he does not, the seller raises his hat 
twice, and the capper comes up. The capper then asks 


WATCH STUFFING. 


103 


the seller if he is the young man who lost the money ; 
he says he is ; the capper says I understood you had a 
valuable watch to sell ; he says he has and produces it; 
the capper professes to be a judge, and says it is a very 
fine watch, tells the seller he is in business in a certain 
street, and if he can wait a few days, until his brother 
comes home, who has all the money with him, he will 
buy the watch ; the seller wishes to dispose of it imme¬ 
diately, as he has no money to stop in town so long. At 
a given sign from the capper, the seller will go off a short 
distance, while the capper asks the victim if he knows 
that man ; he says he does not; and the capper says it 
is too bad for him to be without money, and away from 
home with his sister and mother with him. The victim 
asks him if he thinks the watch a good one. He says 
he is a good judge of watches and jewelry, and then 
gives a sign, and the seller comes up again, and asks the 
capper if he thinks he could take it. He says he 


104 


WATCH STUFFING. 


could not at present, and turns to the victim and tells 
him he ought to buy it, as it is a bargain, and he will 
be doing the young man a great favor to buy it from 
him, as it will enable him and his mother to reach their 
journey's end. If he should buy readily, and have 
plenty of money after he pays for it, he will then pull 
out another watch, which he says belongs to his mother; 
he does not like to part with it, hut as he has bought 
his father's he might as well have his mother’s; besides, 
he might not have money enough to take him through. 
The capper takes him aside, and tells him to buy it, 
that he is getting a great bargain, and he might as well 
have them both. If he should hesitate, he will tell him 
to offer him one dollar less than he gave for the other 
one, which he will most generally do; if he buys the 
second one, and after he pays for it, the seller will pull 
out a brass chain, and say as he has bought his watch 
he should have the gold chain to wear with it, and will 


WATCH STUFFING. 


105 


offer it at a great sacrifice, as lie has sold the watch he 
has no use for the chain, and will, probably, get some 
ten or fifteen dollars more; the chain costing from 
twenty-five to seventy-five cents. But few men can be 
heat to such an extent. 

Watch stuffing at the present day is done in a more 
scientific way, for the reason that people are better 
posted in relation to* this game, hut still there are 
plenty of persons who never saw it, and a great many 
that have heard of it, who are easily duped. The way 
in which it is done is this:—The capper finds the vic¬ 
tim, and if it should he on a steamboat he ropes him to 
some part of the boat, where there are no passengers, 
and gets in conversation with him, and finds out where 
he is going, and says he is going there himself. If the 
victim should be a stranger in the place, the capper 
will say he is doing business there. The victim will 
then ask what business ? He will say he is a jeweler 


106 


WATCH STUFFING. 


and watch-maker. If they are traveling west, he will 
say he has been to Hew York buying a stock of goods or 
jewelry, and is on his return. When he thinks he has 
his confidence, he will ask him if he heard of that young 
man that lost his money. The victim says he has not, 
and inquires all about it. The capper says he was talk¬ 
ing with a young man which the clerk of the boat 
had pointed out to him, who had just returned from 
California, and had lost some two hundred dollars, and 
offered his watch for sale, which cost him, in California, 
one hundred and forty dollars, and he offered it to him 
for seventy-five dollars. The victim says why don't you 
buy it ? The capper says that he would have bought 
it, if he had had money enough by him—that he has a 
draft, but cannot get it cashed until he gets home. 
Sometimes the victim will say, where is the fellow ? 
If you say it is a good watch I will buy it, but I am no 
judge, and will buy it on your recommendation. The 


WATCH STUFFING. 


107 


capper says he does not know where the young man is, 
hut presumes he went up into the city to sell it, as he 
said something to that effect, when he saw him last. 
The capper then raises his hat, when the seller makes 
his appearance, and says to the capper, are you not the 
man that was looking at my watch a short time ago ? 
He replies that he is, and asks him if he has sold it ? 
The capper then says, let me examine it again, I wish 
to show it to my friend, meaning the victim. He takes 
the watch, and pulls out of his pocket a watch-maker's 
eye-glass, and examines it, which makes the victim 
think that he really is a watch-maker. If he should he 
a shrewd man, he will hand it back to the seller, after 
he has examined it, and at a given sign he will step 
aside, and will say to the victim, there is a bargain in 
that watch, and that he should buy it without further 
delay. Sometimes the victim says he does not want to 
buy, as he has no use for so costly a watch. The cap- 


106 


WATCH STUFFING. 


per then says he will take it and give him ten dollars 
for his bargain, when they arrive at their journey's end, 
as he can then obtain the money on his draft, or at any 
given place except the one they are in at present. If 
that should fail to make him buy, they have another 
way which most generally makes them buy, no matter 
how smart they may be; and that is done in this way: 
The capper says if you will give him seventy-five dollars 
and keep it until we get through, I will give you eighty- 
five dollars for it, and give you ten dollars now to bind 
the bargain. Sometimes he says if you have got sixty- 
five dollars, I will give you ten dollars to make up the 
balance, and you can keep the watch until we arrive at 
our destination, and I will pay you seventy-five dollars 
back, and you will make ten dollars on the operation; he 
can see nothing unfair about that, as he will have the 
watch for security, and he does not suppose that the cap¬ 
per would pay his money for it, if it was not worth it; 


WATCH STUFFING. 


109 


never, for a moment, suspecting that they are in collu¬ 
sion. In this manner they beat the smartest men, 
and I have known men that have bought watches at 
mock auction stores in New York, and had them stuffed 
on them in various ways, and buy another one upon the 
strength of this way of operating. 

Another way of disposing of these watches is, for 
one person to seek out a victim, and ask him what time 
the boat is to leave, and what place he intends stop¬ 
ping at, and says he is going to stop at the same place; 
that he is short of money, and is glad that he has found 
some person who is going there; he then takes out a 
watch, which, he says, he has just been up to a jeweler’s 
shop to sell, but they would not give over half of what 
it is worth; besides, he don’t care much about selling 
it, as it was a present from his deceased father, and he 
would like to keep it, and as he, the victim, is going to 
the same place, if he would take it and loan him a few 


lio 


WATCH STUFFING. 


dollars upon it, he will feel very grateful. If the 
victim declines, he will ask him to let him have 
fifteen dollars on the watch until they get at their jour¬ 
ney's end, when he will pay him hack twenty dollars, 
which will he five dollars for the use of it; and, then, to 
cap himself, he says, I am not selling you this watch— 
you are to give it hack when I pay you twenty dollars. 
He gives him the money, and thinks he is safe. 

Watches are also sold in the following way : Get a 
gold watch worth about eighty dollars and get a num¬ 
ber of brass or composition watches, with hacks and dials 
similar to the gold watch, and have them boxed up. This 
game is mostly played on pawnbrokers or any person 
lending money. The sharper comes in and represents 
himself a jeweler doing busing business in some Western 
city, is short of money, has a note to pay, and wants to 
borrow some money. He then shows the gold watch ; 
if he hesitates, he tells him to take it to a watch maker 


WATCH STUFFING. 


Ill 


and have it priced at wholesale ; he finds it cost some 
fifty or sixty dollars in New York, and concludes he will 
he safe in lending him forty dollars apiece on them. 
The sharper says he would like to raise about five hund¬ 
red dollars, and he will give him twelve watches as 
security, and pay him his per centage. The sharper 
shows him the balance of the watches ; the broker looks 
them over, and finds they all correspond with the one 
he took to the jewelers, and lets him have the money. 
Not one man in a hundred will think far enough ahead 
to see if the movements are all the same, and very 
few are well enough acquainted with watches to know 
the difference. This game has been played to a great 
extent all over the country, and many a smart broker 
Y as had his eye teeth cut at it. One man in particular, 
a in St. Louis, who lent three thousand dollars, 
and too. ^his ki n q 0 f property as security. 

I will gi ^ a short sketch of a case that occurred in 


112 


WATCH STUFFING. 


the year 1854, while returning from the State Fair in 
Indiana. While on the cars from Indianapolis to Day- 
ton, Ohio, I made the acquaintance of a very green 
looking individual, and from his conversation, which 
lasted some two hours or more, he told me he was travel¬ 
ing in disguise, and was in search of a fugitive from the 
city of Rochester, where he was an officer. I very 
soon learned from his conversation that he was not of 
the smartest kind ; I told him I was from Tennessee, 
was engaged in the watch and jewelry business, and was 
on my way to New York city to buy my fall stock of 
watches and jewelry ; he said he was very glad he had 
made my acquaintance, as he was on his return to 
Rochester, and we would be in company for some time, 
as I was going by the New York Central Railroad. 
When we arrived at Dayton we had to change ca ' 5 1 
during the time I found my partner, told him I 
I had a sucker and how to work him. I then oun ^ ray 


WATCH STUFFING. 


113 


Rochester friend, who had a seat reserved for me ; while 
we were going from Dayton to Springfield, I told him 
about my seeing a young man in Dayton, while we were 
changing cars, who had come up the night previous from 
Cincinnati, had lost his pocket-hook, and wanted to sell 
a fine gold watch for eighty dollars, which he paid one 
hundred and twenty-five for in Chicago, and as he was 
short of funds he had to make a sacrifice ; he asked 
me if I was acquainted with him ; I told him I never 

saw him before ; he said I should be a judge of watches, 

w 

as I worked at the business ; I told him I had been 
engaged at the business nearly ten years, and considered 
myself competent to be a good judge by this time, if 
ever. The conversation then dropped for about half an 
hour, when he asked me where the young man had gone 
who had the watch ; I told him I had not seen him since 
the cars had left Dayton. I now saw by his talk he was 
inclined to bite, and thought I would let him take his 


114 


WATCH STUFFING. 


own course. As the the cars were coining into Spring- 
field he asked me how much I really thought the watch 
worth ; I told him the young man said it cost him one 
hundred and twenty-five dollars, but I did not think the 
watch really worth more than one hundred and fifteen 
dollars, although he might have paid one hundred and 
twenty-five dollars for the same ; he said, I suppose 
if a person should buy it for seventy-five dollars, 
he would be getting a good bargain ; I told him 
Ke would, as the wholesale price in New York was about 
one hundred dollars ; he said if he could see the young 
man again he might be tempted to buy it—but would 
not buy it on his own judgment, and asked my opinion 
of it. I told him when we arrived at Springfield we 
might see the young man, but I was not sure, as ? he did 
not tell me which way he was going ; when the train 
stopped, we stepped off, and I gave my partner the sign, 
when he came up and asked me if I was the man he 


WATCH STUFFING. 


115 


was showing his watch to in Dayton ; I said I was, and 
asked him if he had disposed of his watch ; he said he 
had not; I told him my money was all in drafts, or I 
would buy it myself; I then asked him which way he 
was going ; he said his folks lived in the northern part 
of Michigan, and he was going home as soon as he could 
dispose of his watch and raise the money, but could not 
go any further at present. My Rochester friend then 
spoke and asked him if he would let me examine the 
watch ; he said he would ; we then went behind the 
depot, as I told him it was a bad place to open the 
watch, as there were so many cinders flying from the loco¬ 
motive, and if one should get in the movements it might 
break it. I then took my glass and commenced examin¬ 
ing it; he asked me if I thought he would be safe in 
giving him seventy-five dollars for it; I told him he 
would, and forty dollars in the bargain; he then told 
my partner he did not want the watch, but if it would 


116 


WATCH STUFFING. 


help him, he would give him seventy-five dollars for it; 
my partner said it was making a great sacrifice, but as 
he was compelled to have the money he would let it go. 
The Rochester gentleman paid him seven ten dollar bills 
and five on the Monroe County Bank, of Rochester. I 
then told him we had better hurry and get aboard of the 
cars, as they might soon start. The train bound for 
Sandusky City was on the track opposite us, and I made 
an excuse to get a drink of water, and told him to keep 
my seat, as I would soon return ; he said he wanted a 
drink, too; I told him I would go in the other car to 
get a drink, and he might keep my seat until I returned ; 
he then sat down. When I sat in the forward part of 
the car I saw the Sandusky train start, and immediately 
jumped aboard. I have never seen anything of the 
Rochester officer since—but rather think if he catches 
rogues by the time that watch keeps, they will get 
a long start of him, as we carried it some two weeks 
and it never run a minute during the whole time. 


Three Card Monte on the Ohio 
River. 


In the Spring of 1853, while traveling from Louis 
ville, Ky., to Cincinnati, Ohio, on the steamboat Tele¬ 
graph, I made the acquaintance of a Jew peddler, who 
was engaged in the business of peddling jewelry, and 
soon after the boat left, which was about noon, we had 
a game of Euchre, just to pass away time, and after we 
were done playing Euchre, my partner watched an op¬ 
portunity when there were hut few passengers in the 
saloon and stepped up to me and said, have you ever 
seen the New Zealand Puzzle ? I told him I had not; 
he took from the pack of cards we had been playing 



118 THREE CARD MONTE ON THE OHIO RIVER. 

with, three cards, and crimped them, and commenced 
throwing them one over the other, and said that I could 
not name any particular card for a bottle of wine. I 
nodded to the Jew, and he said that was no trick. I 
asked him if he would join me in the bet for the wine; 
he said he would. My partner then threw the cards 
over again, and requested me to turn up the card; I 
asked the Jew which one he thought was the right one; 
he said he would take the middle one; I told him I 
thought he was mistaken, but turned up the middle one, 
which proved to be the right one. We had the bottle 
of wine; after drinking it, he threw the cards over 
again, and offered to bet any amount that we could not 
tell again, without we had seen the Puzzle before. I 
told him I had never seen it before, and the Jew said 
he never had. I then asked him how much he would 
bet; he said that he was not particular, as he had just 
drawn ten thousand dollars in the lottery at Havana, 


THREE CARD MONTE ON THE OHIO RIVER. 119 

and money was no object to him. I turned to the Jew 
and said, we can make a good thing out of that fellow, 
and asked him how much money he had.; he said he 
had only about two hundred dollars with him, as he 
had just bought a stock of jewelry, and among the lot 
about two dozen gold hunting-case watches. I told 
him I only had about one hundred dollars with me,, but 
had a draft on Cincinnati for thirteen hundred dollars, 
but could not get it cashed until I arrived there; he 
asked me if I thought the fellow's money was good; I 
told him that I had not seen it. We then went to the 
table, and asked him how much of a bet he would like 
to make; I laid both hands down on the table, and 
raised them twice, which meant two thousand dollars; 
he looked at my hands, and said he would bet from two 
thousand dollars upwards, and then took out of his 
pocket about six hundred dollars in twenty dollar gold 
pieces, and as soon as the Jew saw them, I made up my 


120 THREE CARD MONTE ON THE OHIO RIVER. 

mind lie would be an easy victim, although they have 
the name of being shrewd; I think they cannot stand 
the sight of gold, especially in large quantities; he told 
my partner that he had not so much money, but had a lot 
of fine gold watches, which he would put up against his 
money. I spoke and said it was not a proper place to 
be conversing on such matters, as we would be likely to 
be arrested for gambling—that we had better go to our 
state-room, where we would be undisturbed; he thought 
it a good idea, and went to the office and got his jewelry 
box, and opened it and showed us his stock, and said if he 
could get a fair valuation for his watches, he would bet. 
My partner asked him how much he would bet; he said 
that he and his friend, meaning me, would bet him two 
thousand dollars, providing his money was good, which 
he had no doubt it was; my partner said if he disputed 
the money he might take it to the clerk of the boat and 
satisfy himself; he took several twenty dollar gold 


THREE CARD MONTE ON THE OHIO RIVER. 121 


pieces and examined them, and said he thought they 
were genuine, and my partner said he had only seven 
hundred dollars in gold, and the balance he would put 
up in Kentucky money, and if he doubted its being 
genuine, he could take it to the clerk of the boat; he 
accordingly took two twenty dollar bills, and showed 
them to the clerk, and asked his opinion of them; the 
clerk said they were good, and he came back satisfied. 
My partner asked him what he valued his watches at; 
he picked out fifteen of them, and said they were worth 
one hundred dollars apiece, and said he would put them 
up at that price, and he had two hundred dollars in 
money; I told him I would make out the balance, and 
took out my watch and chain, and told them that it 
cost me one hundred and fifty dollars, and I had one 
hundred and fifty dollars in money, which, with the 
Jew's watches and money, would make two thousand 
dollars. My partner said he would like to have an un- 


122 THREE CARD MONTE ON THE OHIO RIVER. 

derstanding before the bet was made; he then took the 
cards and threw them over, and said if we guessed any 
particular card we took the money, and if not, the 
money and watches were his; the Jew said that was 
the way he understood it, and we went to the saloon, 
and got a pack of cards, and my partner took the tray 
of clubs and the tray of diamonds, and the deuce of 
hearts, and said we might take the tray of clubs as the 
card, and after throwing them over several times, I told 
him I would bet him one bottle of wine before we com¬ 
menced ; he said it was all right, and I turned up the 
tray of clubs; he said he was beat, and started to 
order the wine, and when he closed the door, I took up 
the tray of clubs and made a small dot on the back of 
the card, and said to the Jew that we could easily fool 
him now; he winked, and thought it a capital idea; 
soon my partner returned with the wine, which we 
Irank, the cards still laying where my partner left them. 


THREE CARD MONTE ON THE OHIO RIVER. 123 


The Jew then asked him if he was willing to bet the 
two thousand dollars; he said he was, and two thousand 
more if he chose; the Jew said two thousand was 
enough—he opened the box again, and took out 
watches, and everything being understood, I was ap¬ 
pointed stake-holder. The watches and money being 
counted and placed in a handkerchief, I was to give it 
to the Jew if he turned up the tray of clubs ; if not, my 
partner was to have the handkerchief and its contents. 
The cards were then thrown again; the Jew turned up 
the card with the dot on, and it proved to be the tray of 
diamonds. My partner immediately took the handker¬ 
chief from me and put it into his coat pocket; the Jew 
turned deathly pale—I shall never forget his looks, as 
he took the card and looked at it, but there was the 
dot; my partner then left the room. The Jew turned 
to me and said, how could he change the spot ? I told 
him it was as much of a mystery to me as it was to him. 


124 THREE CARD MONTE ON THE OHIO RIVER. 

We were then about ten miles from Madison, Indiana, 
and I concluded that we had better leave the boat there, 
rather than proceed to Cincinnati, as we were sure to he 
arrested there. The Jew asked me if I was acquainted 
with that man; I told him I was not; he said we had 
better see him, and ask him to give back the watches'; 
I told him I did not think he would, if we bad won his 
money we would not give it back; he said he was a 
ruined man; I told him he should not have bet; he 
asked me to get him some brandy and water, which I 
did; I told him to lay down and he would soon feel 
better, and I would go and see what arrangement I 
could make in the matter; I found my partner, and 
told him we had better leave the boat at Madison; he 
said that it was his intention to do so; we were then 
nearing the landing, and as soon as the plank went 
ashore, we had our trunk taken off, and the boat was 
soon off again. 


THREE CARD MONTE ON THE OHIO RIVER. 


125 


Before closing this, it may be interesting to some, 
to know how the spot on the card was changed from the 
tray of clubs to the tray of diamonds. When we first 
went aboard of the boat, an understanding was had 
with the bar-keeper; we gave him three packs of cards 
of one kind, small blue star backs, and when we called for 
cards, we were to have them, and no others, for which 
we paid him one dollar per pack. My partner had the 
other cards, corresponding with the first three, in his 
pocket, except the tray of clubs being dotted it was the 
tray of diamonds; when he went the last time to take 
the watches out of his box, my partner slipped the first 
three in his pocket, and took out the last three, which 
cqntained the tray of diamonds dotted, in the place of 
the tray of clubs. You see what chance you have of 
winning with a sharper; and it holds good with most 
kinds of gambling, as gamblers seldom risk their money, 
without the odds are in their favor, which is the case 


126 THREE CARD MONTE ON THE OHIO RIVER. 

nine times in ten The Jew I never heard of since, but 
suppose he had the officers, at Cincinnati, on the watch 
for us, but it was useless, as we took the cars and went 
to Indianapolis. 


The Game of Euchre or Diamond 
Out Diamond. 


In the summer of 1852, while coming from Chicago 
to Buffalo, on the steamer Hendrik Hudson, I made the 
acquaintance of a young man who came aboard of the 
boat at Milwaukee, and from his appearance and man¬ 
ners, I took him to be a young man from the West 
going East to attend school. Shortly after leaving Mil¬ 
waukee, he went below to the saloon and wished to find 
a party to play a game of euchre, merely to pass away 
time ; the bar-keeper asked me if I would join in and 
make up the game, as there was only one wanting ; I 
told him I was not much acquainted with cards ; the 



128 


THE GAME OF EUCHRE. &C. 


young man said they were only going to play for the 
segars and some drinks, and it would not be a great deal 
if I lost. We then commenced the game, and the young 
man was an opposite partner; I saw by his dealing and 
shuffling the cards, that he was a gambler. We played 
several games and it was about an even thing ; he then 
proposed to play for a dollar a corner, that is, each per¬ 
son put up a dollar, and the first two out take the money. 
The man at my right hand was an old lake captain, and 
had taken the steamboat, as his vessel had gone a few 
days ahead of him, and he expected to overtake it at 
Mackinaw. When the young man proposed playing for 
a dollar he was perfectly willing, and appeared to have 
plenty of money ; the other man who was my partner I 
knew but little of, but was satisfied he was no carder ; I 
told them rather than break up the game I would con¬ 
tinue playing, and put up my money. The first game 
we lost; the old captain, who had been drinking quite 


THE GAME OF EUCHRE, &C. 


129 


freely, wanted to play for five dollars instead of one, 
remarking that he could never get rich at such a game 
as that; I told them I was willing, and the game went 
on. After playing some some two hours or more, we 
agreed to wait until after supper ; as soon as the game 
was over, the young man threw the cards overboard, and 
then went out of the saloon. I asked the bar-keeper 
who the young man was ; he said he was not much 
acquainted with him, hut told me he lived in Buffalo, and 
that he often went up the lake for the benefit of his 
health ; I was then satisfied he was a gambler. After 
tea we were in the saloon, and commenced the game 
again, at five dollars a corner. I thought my chance 
as good as his, and was determined to play as long as 
I saw it was a square game ; after playing an hour or 
more, I was thirty dollars ahead, when the young man 
got uneasy, and the old captain quit and went to bed. 
I then proposed playing three-handed, each man for 


130 


THE GAME OF EUCHRE, &C. 


himself; the other man objected, and said he thought 
he would go to bed. The young man then offered to 
play me single-handed for the same amount; I told him 
I was willing, and he called for a new pack of cards. 
We commenced again, when I perceived he was playing 
an advantage on me, and commenced looking to see in 
what quarter; I soon learned he was playing marked 
cards on me, but continued playing, as I thought it 
policy to do so. It was then near twelve o'clock, and I 
told him we had better wait till morning, as my head 
ached. Before quitting I palmed some ten or fifteen 
cards on him, put them in my pocket, and started for 
my state-room, where I examined the cards and saw how 
they were marked ; he had only the aces, kings, queens 
and jacks marked, but in such a way he could tell the 
suit as well. I then laid a trap for him; the cards 
were plaid backs, and in the morning I went below, and 
found a young man, who, I told, I wished to tell a 


THE GAME OF EUCHRE, &C. 


131 


secret; after convincing myself he could be trusted, I 
told him to go to the bar-keeper and get a pack of cards, 
to be sure and get plaid backs, and if the bar-keeper 
should ask him who they were for, to tell him he wished 
to have a game in the steerage for some segars, and be 
sure to not let the bar-keeper or any other person see 
him coming into my state-room. He went and got the 
cards, which I saw were the same kind, with the excep¬ 
tions of the marks ; I then took and laid his down, back 
up, and marked the new pack in the same place, but 
different ; for instance, I took the queen and put the 
mark he had on the ace, and on the king I put the mark 
of the queen, and then took the cards and handled them 
to make them appear as if they had been played with a 
short time, and told the young man to say nothing about 
this to any person ; he promised he would not; I then 
left my room and went to the saloon, where the young 
man was awaiting me ; he asked me if I had seen the 


132 


THE GAME OF EUCHRE, &C. 


old captain ; the bar-keeper then told us he had left dur¬ 
ing the night at some place we had stopped. The young 
man asked me if I would like to try a game ; I told 
him I was not particular, but would rather play in some 
other place, as the saloon was too public to play for 
money ; he asked me where we should go ; I told him 
we could play in my room, as there was a small stand in 
it, and I would go up and see if the berth was made, 
and if it was, I would come down and let him know. 
I then went out and found my young man, and told him 
to come to my room ; I don’t mean the gambler, but 
the young man I previously sent for the cards, and told 
him to take the pack of cards I had marked, and when I 
gave him a sign, which would be the raising of my hat 
just before I sat down to dinner, I then wanted him to go 
out on the guard of the boat, go into my state-room, 
take up the cards which he would find laying there, and 
lay the ones I had just given him in the same place ; I 


THE GAME OF EUCHRE, &C. 


133 


told him to do it as unobserved as he possibly could ; he 
said he would. I then went down and saw the young 
gambler, and told him everything was ready. He then 
called for a pack of cards, and we commenced playing 
at ten dollars a single game ; as I knew the cards as 
well as himself, he had very little advantage of me ; we 
played until the first bell rang, when we concluded to 
stop until after dinner. I was sixty dollars wii/ner of 
him. We then had our dinner, when I gave the young 
man the sign. After dinner we commenced again, when 
I told the young man it was a slow game for such a 
small amount of money, at least, it would he considered 
so in my country ; he asked me what country I came 
from; I told him I was from Texas, and that they 
never played any game there for less than a hundred 
dollars ; he said he was willing to play for any amount; 
I then told him we might as well call it a hundred dol¬ 
lars, as one or the other would he winner to a good 


134 


THE GAME OF EUCHRE, &C. 


* 


amount, to which he agreed. I then heat him four 
straight games, and played until I won eight hundred 
dollars of him; he said he had no more money with 
him, took the cards, and started down to the saloon ; I 
followed him, and saw him conversing with the bar¬ 
keeper. 

I afterwards learned from a gentleman on the boat, 
that the young man traveled the lakes most of the time, 
and that his partner had won two thousand dollars a few 
days previous in Milwaukee, of a man from the northern 
part of Wisconsin, who was engaged in the. lumber 
business very extensively; that they had played 
marked cards on him, and he threatened to prosecute 
them. 

They had to leave the city, but it seems he had left his 
partner, and, I suppose, went in with the bar-keeper ; 
but it was a losing operation for both of them. I saw 


THE GAME OF EUCHRE, &C. 


135 


them afterwards looking over the cards. The young 
man that assisted me, I gave twenty dollars, told him 
to say nothing of the affair, and left the boat at 
Detroit. 


The Five Aces and the Nigger 
Stealer. 


In the Fall of 1851, I started from Chicago with my 
partner, for a Southern trip, expecting to return in the 
following Spring. We arrived in St. Louis, and re¬ 
mained a few days, until we found a boat going to New 
Orleans which suited us. While waiting, I saw a 
young man with whom I was acquainted; he showed 
me some California Lumps, the first I ever saw, of 
which I have already given a description in this work; 
he said they were an entirely new thing, and if I wanted 
some, he would let me have them at a small advance on 
what he paid for them in California. I took one dozen, 



THE FIVE ACES AND THE NIGGER STEALER. 137 

and my partner and myself started for the hotel; he 
asked what I intended doing with them; I told him 
they were as good as so much gold; I went and bought 
a Panama hat, and went down on the levee; the steam¬ 
boat Grand Turk had just arrived from New Orleans^ 
with a load of California passengers; they were coming 
ashore and taking boats for different places—some up 
the Upper Mississippi, and others up the Illinois and 
Missouri Rivers. I went aboard of a Missouri River 
Packet, that had quite a number of California passen¬ 
gers on board, and represented myself as a returned 
Californian, and being short of the coin, I had been up 
in the city to dispose of a specimen, but could not get 
the worth of it. One man asked me to let him look at 
it, which I did; he asked me how much I wanted for 
it; I told him it was worth about seven dollars; he 
said he would give five dollars for it, and I let him have 
it; I sold ten lumps on that boat for fifty dollars ; they 


138 THE FIVE ACES AND THE NIGGER STEALER. 

would not weigh more than five or six dollars if they 
had been genuine, and after leaving the boat I sold two 
more on the levee for five dollars apiece, which made 
sixty dollars for the twelve lumps, which made me a 
clean profit of fifty-three dollars, as I paid seven dollars 
for the dozen. I told my partner we had better remain 
a few weeks, as we could not do any better, and I would 
get another lot; we concluded to remain another week, 
which we did, and made one hundred and eighty dollars. 
We bought another lot and took the steamboat Grand 
Turk for New Orleans, where we arrived after a passage 
of ten days; we then took the steamship Louisiana for 
Galveston, Texas. Among the passengers was a man 
about thirty-five years of age, who seemed very fond of 
playing cards, and wished to play the most of the time, 
and from his conversation he was a man who had never 
before been South; he took me by the arm, in a very 
familiar way, and said, I think I know you; I told him 


THE FIVE ACES AND THE NIGGER STEALER. 139 


if he did he had the advantage of me, as I did not know 
him; I asked him where he had known me; he asked 
me if I remembered riding in a stage from Niagara 
Falls to Lewiston; I then remembered him; he said he 
had lived in Canada, but was then from Illinois; he 
then asked me if I could keep a secret; I told him I 
thought I could; he then went on and related that he 
had lived the last six months in Illinois, and during the 
time had been engaged in counterfeiting and horse steal¬ 
ing, and during the time had made the acquaintance of 
a negro who had ran away from the State of Delaware, 
and tried for a long time to induce him to go South 
with him, but the negro suspected him, and finally he 
told him he was going to California, and told the negro 
he would take him out there, and he could work and 
pay him hack, when they got there; the negro finally 
consented to go, and they were to take a steamboat to 
New Orleans, and from there take the steamship to 


140 THE FIVE ACES AND THE NIGGER STEALER. 

Chagres, and cross the Isthmus. When they arrived in 
New Orleans, he took the negro and sold him for four 
hundred and fifty dollars, and was now on his way to 
Texas, to try his fortune; he asked me what kind of 
country it was; I told him I was not much acquainted 
in Texas, hut from what I had seen of it, I thought it a 
fine country; he asked me if I was alone; I told him I 
was, and he proposed we should travel in company; I 
told him I would see, as I had a little business to attend 
to in Galveston, I might possibly arrange so as to travel 
with him. I then left him and went to my state-room; 
I told my partner what had transpired, and thought we 
might make something out of him, as he had some five 
or six hundred dollars; we concluded to try him with 
the five aces, but did not like to beat him on the boat, 
as we might have to return the money, and as we were 
within a few hours' sail of Galveston, we thought we would 
wait and beat him as the boat was nearing the dock; I 


THE FIVE ACES AND THE NIGGER STEALER 141 


left my partner and found my man again, and engaged 
him. in conversation until the boat was near the city, 
when I asked him if he would go to my state-room and 
take a drink, as I had some better liquor than what they 
kept on the boat; he said he would; we went, and just 
before we reached the door, I beckoned my partner, who 
came up and asked me where the saloon was, that he had 
been looking for it, and wished something to drink, as 
he had been sea-sick ever since the ship had left New 
Orleans; I told him I had some good liquor, and asked 
him if he would join us in a glass; he said he would. 
We then went in and shut the door; my partner spoke 
and said, I guess you play cards here, and he took a 
pack of cards from one of the berths; I told him no, 
that I had found them in the berth, and supposed they 
were left there by some other passengers; he said, I will 
show you a trick; we took a drink, and he shuffled the 
cards, and took out the four aces and laid the ace of 


142 THE FIVE ACES AND THE NIGGER STEALER. 

clubs and ace of hearts on the top of half the pack, and 
took the other half in his hand, and turning around said 
we could not so place the cards but what the four aces 
would come out together; I took the ace of hearts and 
put it into the man's bosom, and winked at him; my 
partner then turned around and took the remaining half 
of the pack and put them all together—he asked us to 
shuffle them, which I did; he said do you suppose I can 
make them all come out together; I told him I did not 
know; he said he would bet a thousand dollars that 
they would all come out together; the man spoke and 
said, I will bet you five hundred dollars that they will 
not come out together; I asked him to wait and let me 
bet; he said no, I wish to bet; he then counted out 
five hundred dollars on the Louisiana State Bank, and 
I was to be stake-holder; my partner then put up his 
money, and handed it to me; I asked him how the 
bet was to be decided; the man then said he was to 
deal the cards, and if the 1 four aces were there, he, my 


THE FIVE ACES AND THE NIGGER STEALER. 143 

partner, was to have the money, hut if not, he was to 
have it, at the same time putting his hand in his bosom, 
to see that the card was still there; my partner com¬ 
menced running the cards off, and came to the first one, 
the ace of clubs, and then the ace of spades, and the ace 
of diamonds, and then, holding up the next card said, if 
that is the ace of hearts, the money is mine; I said that 
was the agreement; he then threw down the card and 
said, then give me the money; which I did, and he im¬ 
mediately left the state-room. The man looked very 
much surprised, and taking the other ace out of his 
bosom, asked me how he had done it; I said I did not 
know, unless he changed the spots; he said that was 
impossible; I said it was fortunate for me that I did 
not bet, as I should have lost every dollar I had; he 
said he had about a hundred dollars left; I told him he 
might go down in Mexico and run over another nigger, 
and he would get even; he said he thought he would. 
The boat then landed, and we went ashore; the man 


144 THE FIVE ACES AND THE NIGGER STEALER. 

went up into the city; the boat, after taking in coal, 
proceeded on her way, and we kept on until she reached 
Port Lavacca, where we left her. The kidnapper I 


never saw since. 


Three Card Monte on Lake Ontario 
and the Canada Counterfeiter. 


In die summer of 1855,1 took a trip from New York 
to Buffalo, and from there we went to Lewiston and took 
the steamboat New York to Ogdensburgh, and on the 
boat my partner made the acquaintance of a young man 
some twenty-eight years of age, and he seemed to he 
rather retired, and shunned the passengers. After leav¬ 
ing the mouth of the Niagara River, the bar-keeper 
wished to start a game of euchre, and my partner asked 
the young man if he would take a hand ; after a great 
deal of urging he consented, and we played some five or 
six games. After the games were over, I introduced 
three card monte, and offered to bet five hundred 



146 THREE CARD MONTE ON LAKE ONTARIO, &C. 

dollars that no man could tell the right card. I saw by 
the young man’s actions he wished to bet, and as there 
were a considerable number of passengers in the saloon, 
I put the cards up until no one was left in the saloon 
except my partner, the young man, barkeeper anl my¬ 
self ; I then took out my cards, commenced throwing 
them again, and made the same proposition, when the 
young man asked me to throw them over again, which 
I did; he said he would bet me five hundred collars 
that he could tell the winning card ; I told him it was 
a bet, and put up my money, when my partner closed 
the door, and the young man stepped one side and count¬ 
ed out fifty ten dollar bills on the Commercial Bank of 
Canada, Kingston, all new bills. I asked him if the 
money was all good, as I was no judge of Canada 
money ; he said he had "taken it out of the bank, 
in Hamilton, Canada, that forenoon, and it must be 
good ; the bar-keeper took one of the bills, looked at it, 


THREE CARD MONTE ON LAKE ONTARIO, &C. 147 

and pronounced it all right. My partner was to be 
stakeholder. I then threw the cards over again, and 
told him I was ready ; that if he turned up the tray of 
spades, as that was the winning card* he took the 
money); if not, I took it. He said that was right, and 
turned up a card, which proved to he the deuce of hearts. 
My partner then handed me the money, when I called 
for a tyottle of wine, which we drank ; I then handed 
the bar-keeper one of the ten dollar bills, and he gave 
me my change. 

The young man did not seem much chagrined at his 
loss, so I went to my state-room and examined the 
money, and being a very good judge of money, I soon 
came to the conclusion that it was counterfeit; I took 
one of the bills to the clerk, and asked his opinion of 
it; he said he thought it was counterfeit. I then went 
to the young man and asked him to give me other 
money for it; he asked me what was the matter with it; 


148 THREE CARD MONTE ON LAKE ONTARIO, &C. 

I told him he should know as well as me ; he then said 
he had no other money ; I told him that would not do, 
when he took me aside and said it was good enough to 
het on such game ; I told him I did not view it in that 
light, and he must make it good ; he said he had no 
other money with him, hut would make it good when 
we arrived in Ogdensburgh, on condition that I never 
said a word about it ; I told him it was none of my 
business ; he then told me to come up town with him, 
and we went up near the St. Lawrence Hotel. He then 
went into a store, and came out with a check on the 
Judsons Bank, for five hundred dollars, and offered it 
to me ; I told him that would not do, as he must give 
me the money. He then went with me to the bank 
and gave me the money. I then gave him back his 
money, minus ten dollars, which I gave him in gold ; 
he then took me aside and said I had made five hundred 


THREE CARD MONTE ON LAKE ONTARIO, &C. 149 

dollars very easy, but he thought I was all right; I told 
nim I was. He then told me it was a new issue, and I 
was the first man that had detected a dollar, as it was 
only issued some two days before, and told me to say 
nothing of it; and as he acted honorable with me, I 
did the same with him. He told me where and by whom 
it was made, and if I chose I could give them some 
trouble. The reader may think it strange that I did 
not notify the police, but if they gave as much informa¬ 
tion as I have, and get paid as well for it, they will not 
blame me, as I have tried several times in my life to 
help the ends of justice, and came very near being made 
an accomplice, so I came to the conclusion to let the 
officers do their own business, and attend to my own, 
as I have found by years of experience that it is the 
cheapest and easiest way of getting along. 

Some years since I was employed by the authorities 


150 THREE CARD MONTE ON LAKE ONTARIO, &C. 

of Cincinnati to ferret out the celebrated Martha 
Washington case ; after getting my instructions how to 
work, was politely told one evening in the National 
Theatre, that if I went to Memphis after a certain man, 
I would have the top of my head blown off; as it was, 
I took no more interest in the affair. Another instance 
I will mention :—While traveling from Philadelphia to 
New York, I saw a number of pickpockets on the train, 
who soon got at work on a very old man; I told my 
partner it was a shame for them to rob such an old 
man. When the train stopped, I asked the old man if 
he had lost anything, when he felt, and said he had lost 
his pocket-book and one hundred and thirty dollars ; I 
told him I had seen the men that had robbed him; he 
asked me where they were; I told him they had just 
stepped off the train, and if he kept his seat I would 
look for them, and left the cars, hut could see nothing 


THREE CARD MONTE ON LAKE ONTARIO, &C. 151 

of them; I then returned and took my seat, and when 
the conductor came round for tickets, the old * man 
spoke to the conductor about the robbery, and pointed 
over to me. The conductor passed through the cars, 
took his tickets, and returned with one of the brakemen, 
and said he wished to see me; he took me into the bag¬ 
gage car, and said he should have to search me; I said 
he should not; he insisted; I told him I would like to 
have him explain himself; he said you are suspected of 
robbing that old man of his wallet; I told him I was 
the first one that told him of his loss; he said I must 
be searched; I said the first man that attempted to 
search me that was not legally authorized to do so, I 
would shoot, at the same time drawing my revolver; 
’the conductor then said he would telegraph on and have 
me arrested at the next station; I told him if it would 
afibrd him any satisfaction, I would remain in the bag¬ 
gage car until we arrived in Jersey City, and would give 


152 THREE CARD MONTE ON LAKE ONTARIO, &C. 

myself up to an officer, which I did; when the cars 
arrived at Jersey City, I soon found some friends that 
knew me, and satisfied the conductor that I was not a 
pickpocket. 


The Strap Game on Lake Cham- 
■olain. Betting for Oxen. 


After leaving Ogdensburgh, we went to Rouse's Point, 
and from there to Burlington, Vt., where we took the 
steamboat Canada to Whitehall. On the trip down, I 
became acquainted with a Vermonter who had a yoke of 
cattle on board, which he was taking to Troy, N. Y., for 
an uncle of his. My partner introduced the Strap 
Game, and otfered to bet that no man could catch it; 
the young man seemed very anxious to bet, and pro¬ 
posed betting his cattle against two hundred dollars; 
my partner said it was a great deal more than they were 
worth, and offered to bet one hundred and fifty dollars 



154 THE STRAP GAME ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN, &C. 

against the cattle; the young man finally concluded he 
would bet once, and my partner had a hill of sale of the 
cattle made and put up against the money, which I 
held, as stake-holder; everything being arranged, the 
strap was coiled, and the young man pricked, but did 
not catch it, when I handed the stakes to my partner. 
The young man laughed, and asked my partner what he 
would do with the cattle; he said he thought he could 
dispose of them to some butcher; the young man asked 
how much he thought he could get for them; he said 
he would take one hundred and twenty-five dollars for 
them; the young man said he would give seventy-five 
for them; my partner said he could not have them for 
any such money. After the boat had arrived, my part¬ 
ner commenced landing the cattle; the young man 
came forward and said he would give one hundred dol¬ 
lars for them; my partner told him he might have 
them; he then paid him one hundred dollars and took 


THE STRAP GAME ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN,- &C. 155 

the cattle, remarking that he had saved fifty dollars, as 
he should have bet the money if he had not accepted of 
the cattle; he appeared well satisfied, and started for 
Troy with his cattle, but we saw the next day, by the 
papers, that he was met on the road, just before he 
reached Troy, by a man who represented himself to be a 
butcher from Troy, and bought his cattle, and paid him 
two hundred dollars in counterfeit money, hut never 
learned whether he recovered his cattle. 


A Description of the Strap G-ame, and. how it is 
Played. 

The Strap Game is played to a great extent, princi¬ 
pally on race tracks and at State fairs. To a person 
who never saw it, it seems easily beaten, as it is a very 
simple game—it is played in the following way:—The 
strap being about thirty inches long, both sides being 



156 THE STRAP GAME ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN, &C. 

made alike, and about three-fourths of an inch wide; 
the strap is then doubled, one end being left a little 
longer than the other, and folded up, so that there are 
three loops in the middle, and the game lays in putting 
a pencil or stick in one of the loops, so that when both 
ends of the strap are pulled, one of the loops will catch. 
If the game is played on the square, one of the loops 
will catch. When the sharper gets a victim, he lets 
him catch it once or twice, in order to make him think 
he can catch it, but when he comes to bet, it is quite a 
different thing; when he folds the strap he takes 
another turn on one side, which throws it out of the 
place which caught before. 


The Ball and Safe Game in 
Cleveland. 


In the summer of 1853, while stopping in Cleveland, 
one day I was sitting in a chair smoking a cigar, out¬ 
side the Weddle House, when I was accosted by a man 
who said he lived near Akron, and had just come in 
town, and wished to know where he could find a steam¬ 
boat going to Milwaukee. I told him to he seated and 
wait a minute, as the clerk of the steamboat Empire 
had just gone up stairs, and I would call him. I step¬ 
ped up to my room where my partners were enjoying a 
nap, woke them and gave them the points : one was to 
represent the clerk of the boat, and the other was to 



158 THE BALL AND SAFE GAME IN CLEVELAND. 

turn or play the ball. I started down stairs ahead of 
them, and when one came I introduced him as the clerk 
of the boat, and told him my friend had just come in 
from Akron, and wished to take a boat for Milwaukee ; 
my partner told him he was the clerk of the Empire, 
would take him to the boat, and give him a good room, 
and would carry him cheaper than any other boat; the 
man seemed well satisfied, and the roper said he had to 
call in the other part of the town and get a package of 
money a gentleman wished to send to Chicago, and if he 
would accompany him, he would go from there to the 
boat; the man readily agreed, and they started off 
towards the lake, went near the hospital, and stopped 
to take a view of the lake ; they started again, but had 
not gone far before the roper picked up a little ivory 
ball of a very singular appearance, and commenced 
looking at it, when he accidentally pushed the center 
through, and took a gold dollar from the inside, which 


THE BALL AND SAFE GAME IN CLEVELAND. 159 


he gave to the victim, and told him to put it in his 
pocket, which he did. Presently, the capper came 
along, who seemed to he in great distress at the loss of 
something. As he came up, the roper asked him if he 
had lost anything ; he said he had lost a model of a 
patent safe, which he was taking to Washington to get 
patented, and if he could not find it he was a ruined 
man. When the roper produced it, he seemed very 
glad, and said it was the model of a safe that no man 
could open. It had a gold dollar inside which no man 
could take out, and offered to bet five thousand dollars 
on it. The roper turned to the victim saying there was a 
chance to make something, and turned to the capper and 
asked him how much money he would bet; he said any 
amount, and turned and asked the victim how much he 
had ; he said he had just sold his farm, and had about 
twenty-four hundred dollars ; the capper said he had 
six hundred, which he would let him have to make out 



160 THE BALL AND SAFE GAME IN CLEVELAND. 

the three thousand dollars, and bet him that amount. 
The victim said he belonged to the Methodist Church, 
and never did such a thing ; the roper then said he had 
a draft on the bank for three thousand dollars, which 
belonged to the boat, and if he would lend him his 
money, he would give him it as security, and pay him 
the money when they got to the boat, and if he won he 
would give him a hundred dollars for the use of it; he 
said he never bet in his life, but if he would take the 
responsibility, give him the draft for security, and pay 
him a hundred dollars for the use of it, he would let 
him take his money, but he was to say nothing of it 
afterwards. 

They finally agreed and made the bet; the capper 
putting up some eighteen hundred dollars in City Trust 
money that exploded some twenty years since; the 
roper was to be stakeholder. When the money was up 
and everything ready, th*. sapper takes and turns the 


THE BALL AND SAFE GAME IN CLEVELAND. 161 


ball over and pushes the slide through, and on the 
reverse side, takes out another gold dollar, when he im¬ 
mediately took the money from the roper, and started 
down the hill, which is a very uneven sand hill ; the 
victim says to the roper, I am swindled ; the roper tried 
to pacify him, but he would listen to nothing, and called 
for the police, but he was in the wrong locality. The 
roper says he will make the man stop and give up the 
money, commenced calling, but he did not stop ; he 
pulled out a pistol, and said he would shoot if he did 
not stop ; he then turned to the victim and asked him 
if he would shoot; he said he could do as he pleased, 
but he wanted his money ; the roper cocked his pistol 
and fired, when the capper immediately threw up his 
hands and fell, as though he was shot. The victim said 
I had killed him ; I said I could not help it, and that 
we had better leave or we would be arrested for murder. 
The victim turned very pale, and says for God's sake 


162 THE BALL AND SAFE GAME IN CLEVELAND. 

say nothing about this to anybody ; it was with diffi¬ 
culty he could walk. He promised to take the first 
boat that left for Milwaukee and let his money go ; the 
roper accompanied him as far as the dock on Kiver 
Street, and as luck would have it, the steamboat Minne¬ 
sota was fired up and ready to start for Milwaukee, 
when he immediately went aboard ; and if any person 
could have seen him, they would have seen a very badly 
duped and frightened member of the Methodist Church, 
who would not bet his money himself, but allow others 
to bet for him, and was willing to share the proceeds. 

After the boat was clear of the dock and out on the 
lake, four individuals could have been seen in the 
Marble Saloon, under the Franklin House, seated around 
a table, drinking, and dividing the deacon's money—one 
a celebrated police officer, and the other, a man that had 
been lately shot. The police officer had no dividend in 
the money, and knew nothing of the affair, but just 


THE BALL AND SAFE GAME IN CLEVELAND* 163 

happened to be passing, and was asked to take a smile; 
he was all right if called upon, and readily accepted a 
twenty dollar bill to get a new coat. We made, on that 
occasion, some eight hundred dollars a-piece ; we never 
heard of the man afterwards, and I don't think he 
knows to the contrary, if he is alive, but what that man 
was shot bona fide. If this should meet his eye, he will 
learn that the man was not mortally wounded, but still 
lives, and has served four years in the Columbus State 
Prison since, which may be some satisfaction to him, as 
he was a native of the State of Ohio. 


The Game of French Monte in 
Chicago. 


Another case which occurred in Chicago in the sum¬ 
mer of 1855. In traveling from Toledo to Chicago, I 
got acquainted with a young man from the State of 
Vermont, who had left home with some nine hundred 
dollars, whose brother (living in Illinois) had died some 
days previous, and had left a widow, with three little 
children; he had a mortgage on his place for six hun¬ 
dred dollars, and was on his way to foreclose it and sell 
the place. After telling me his story, I thought it 
would be no harm to take his money, and told my part¬ 
ner the circumstance; I told him that if he would agree 



THE GAME OF FRENCH MONTE IN CHICAGO. 165 


to give his share of the proceeds, we would try and beat 
him, and find the locality of the widow and give her the 
money. I found that she lived in the vicinity of Elgin, 
north of Chicago some forty miles, and the amount due 
on the place, some four hundred and fifty dollars; that 
the place was valued at two thousand five hundred dol¬ 
lars. I told my partner we would heat him and leave 
the cars at Laporte, and cross over and go to Chicago 
by the Michigan Central Eoad. I had my partner come 
in, about two o’clock in the morning, and take a seat 
ahead of us; after leaving White Pigeon, we introduced 
the game of French Monte, and my partner commenced 
throwing the cards; I asked him what game he called 
that; he said it was a game he had learned in Califor¬ 
nia ; I asked him to throw them over again, that my 
friend could see how it was done; he threw them over 
again, and offered to bet a thousand dollars that no per¬ 
son could tell where the red was; I told my Vermont 


166 THE GAME OF FRENCH MONTE IN CHICAGO. 

friend that there was a chance for us to make money, and 
that I had four hundred dollars, and if he would make 
up the balance—that we could win a thousand dollars 
very easy; he thought we could, and counted out the 
money, six hundred dollars, my four hundred making 
the thousand, and I was to be stake-holder; he threw 
the cards over again, and I asked my friend if he could 
tell the card; he said he could, and lifted it up to see 
if he was sure; it proved to be the right one, when 
my partner threw them over again; he told me he 
thought he knew which the card was. I then said we 
had better make the bet now; he asked my partner if 
he would bet him one thousand dollars that he could not 
tell which was the red card; he replied that he would, 
and the money was handed tome; I told my friend to 
be sure and choose the right card, as every dollar I had 
in the world was at stake, and it depended on his judg¬ 
ment to win or lose; he lifted the card, but it was not 


. THE GAME OF FRENCH MONTE IN CHICAGO. 167 

the right one; he turned to me and said he was ruined, 
as that was his last dollar; I told him that was my 
situation too; my partner took the money, and as the 
cars were approaching Laporte, he went into the bag¬ 
gage car and had our trunk taken off; we remained 
at Laporte until ten o'clock next morning, when we 
went to Michigan City and took the cars for Chicago, 
where we arrived some three hours after the victim, 
who, immediately after arriving in Chicago, went to the 
police head-quarters, and made known his loss, when 
they telegraphed back to Laporte, supposing that we 
would take the next train East, but instead of that we 
were in Chicago, watching every movement that was 
made. The officers had the fellow running around some 
three days, trying to find out whether he had more 
money, and make him come down for their trouble. I 
could give the names of the men, but as one of them is 
dead, I will omit them; it will not help the matter 


168 THE GAME OF FRENCH MONTE IN CHICAGO. # 

any. The fellow, after staying in town three or four 
days, took the cars for Elgin. We mentioned the cir¬ 
cumstance to a friend at the Tremont House, and told 
him if he would take the money, go to Elgin, see the 
widow, pay off the mortgage on the place, and do it 
in such a way that the young man, if he should he there, 
would be unable to discover where the money came 
from, we would let him take the matter in hand; he 
promised all that we asked, took quite an interest in tin* 
matter, and started for Elgin; after a little inquiry, 
he found the widow, and had an interview with her, 
she said the place was to be sold to pay off a mortgage 
of six hundred dollars; my friend asked her if she had 
the money to pay it; she said she had not a dollar, and 
had three young children to support; my friend said he 
could lend her the amount, but she declined taking it, 
saying that she should never be able to pay it back, 
and the place might as well be sold first as last, and it 


THE GAME OF FRENCH MONTE IN CHICAGO. 169 

would be off her mind; my friend told her he would 
pay the money and make her a present of it; she 
thought it very strange, hut he assured her that it was 
right, and some day would give her an explanation of 
the matter; she finally consented, and went with him 
to a lawyer and had it fixed. When the young man 
found it out, he was much surprised, as he intended 
buying the place at a bargain, but was mistaken. My 
friend returned to Chicago, and up to the present day, 
the widow, or her brother-in-law, do not know who 
paid the mortgage off, but if this should meet his eye, 
he may be enlightened on the subject; also the police 
officer, who made the young man pawn his trunk and 
clothes for the sum of twenty dollars, to pay him for 
looking after us, which money he used in traveling to 
St. Louis for the purpose-of looking up a young man 
who had committed a forgery in Milwaukie, and stating, 
on his return, that he could find nothing of us; he 


170 THE GAME OF FRENCH MONTE IN CHICAGO. 

did not go after us at all. If this should meet his eye, 
he may learn something to his advantage, and that 
there is some other person that is cognizant of his mis¬ 
deeds, besides himself. This man, at the present day, is 
considered wealthy and an upright man—he may he, in 
the eyes of some, hut he made his money in striking 
down thieves and sharpers, in one way and another, hut 
I think, from appearances, he does not enjoy his wealth, 
as he is in law, with some person, most of the time. If 
it was not for his family, I would mention his name. 


The Strap Game in Memphis. 


Another case which I will mention is the largest trans¬ 
action I was ever engaged in. It took place in 1851 ; 
the Californians were returning in great numbers, by 
way of New Orleans. I arrived there the ninth day of 
December, and stayed until the fifteenth day of April ; 
the day before I left, the steamship Falcon arrived with 
a load of Californians. I thought it would be a good 
opportunity, as I was going up the river, to make a good 
trick ; the boat I intended taking passage on, which was 
the Bay State, happened to have a good load of them 
aboard. I went aboard and engaged a state-room ; I 
soon made the acquaintance of a young man from the 



172 


THE STRAP GAME IN MEMPHIS. 


interior of Missouri; he went to California in 1849, had 
made some thirty thousand dollars, as he said, he had 
sent fifteen thousand home, and had about fifteen 
thousand with him. I thought he could be beat for a 
large amount, and commenced sounding'him to see what 
games he was posted on ; I found he had seen very few 
of the many games which are played on men of his 
stamp. I laid plans to beat him for a large amount, 
but had not money enough with me to make a large 
show ; went to the clerk of the boat, and found he had 
dealings with the State Bank of Missouri. When we 
arrived at St. Louis, I got a bank check of him, filled 
it out for the sum of ten thousand dollars, and told him 
during our conversation, that I had just sold a large 
tract of land in Texas, and was just returning with the 
proceeds to Missouri to invest it in mules to drive over¬ 
land to California, and asked his opinion ; he said they 
would pay very well, as mules were scarce and com- 


THE STRAP GAME IN MEMPHIS. 


I/O 


manded a very high price. After I had my plans laid, 
I saw my partner, and we concluded to play the strap 
game on him, it being the easiest. When the boat 

landed in Memphis, we took a stroll up town, as the 

% 

boat was to stop some two hours. We had our trunk 
put on board the wharf boat ; the steamboat Glendy 
Burke, bound for New Orleans, then hove in sight. I 
thought we had better beat him, and take the next 
boat down ; I then went down on the levee, and raised 
for my partner, who went ahead, took his seat on a 
bale of cotton, and commenced coiling the strap. I 
said to the young man, let us see what that young 
man is doing; we went up, and I asked my partner 
what he was doing ; he said nothing much, only a little 
puzzle he had bought in Mexico, and would bet the 
cigars that no man could catch it; I told him to do it up 
again, which he did ; I then told my friend to try and 
catch it, which he did. I said that was no game, as any 


1/4 


THE STRAP GAME IN MEMPHIS. 


person that had common sense could catch it ; he said 
he would bet five thousand dollars we.could not catch it 
again ; I told him I had no such amount of money 
with me, hut if I had I would bet him. He asked me 
if my friend had the money ; I told him I did not know 
anything of his affairs, as we only got acquainted com¬ 
ing up in the boat; he said if we thought we could 
catch it, we could make five thousand dollars. My 
friend, the Californian, turned to him and said that 
five thousand dollars was no bet, but if he would 
double it and make it ten thousand, he would bet him ; 
my partner told him it was immaterial to him whether 
it was five or ten thousand dollars, as he had just drew 
forty thousand dollars in the lottery ; my partner com¬ 
menced counting his money, which only amounted to 
some eight hundred dollars, and handed it to me ; the 
Californian asked me if I had counted it; I told him 
I had; he asked me to count his money, and it was very 


THE STRAP GAME IN MEMPHIS. 


175 


easily counted, as lie had it all changed into one hundred 
and five hundred dollar bills on the Louisiana State 
Bank, before leaving New Orleans ; I counted it and 
told him it was all right, and the bet was made ; I was 
to be stakeholder. My partner coiled the strap and laid 
it on his knee, when the Californian took his pencil and 
put it in the hole, but it did not catch, when my 
partner immediately took the money and started down 
the levee. The Californian turned to me and asked me 
how it was done, as that was the place that caught 
before. I said we will try him again, as you have money 
left; he said he had ; I told him we would bet him 
fifteen thousand dollars this time ; he said he had no 
such money; I told him I had a check on the State 
Bank of Missouri for ten thousand dollars, and he could 
make out the other five thousand ; he said he would 
do it ; I told him to sit there and I would go and 
fetch the fellow back, and left him sitting there. 


176 


THE STRAP GAME IN MEMPHIS. 


We had just time to get our trunk on the steamboat 
Glendy Burke, when she started for New Orleans, where 
we soon arrived, and got our money changed into gold. 
I never heard of the fellow afterwards. 


Confidence Women. 


Confidence women are generally found on steam¬ 
boats or railroads, and work in the following manner:— 
If traveling alone, they most generally pick up some old 
gentleman, and if on the railroad, they get a seat as 
near as they conveniently can, and find out where he is 
going, and what business he is on, and tell him a story 
most suitable to his case; generally they are some poor 
ill-treated wife, only married some two or three months, 
—have just left their husband, and are in search of a 
brother or sister, who live a long ways off, and they are 
short of means; if the old gentleman should offer to ac¬ 
company her, and offers her money, she, of course, will 



178 


CONFIDENCE WOMEN. 


refuse at first, but if be should persist in her taking it, 
she will, but only as^ a present, and hint to the victim 
that it i's hard work to travel night and day, and that 
they should stop over at some point, which, if the victim 
is not over green, he will propose to her to stop over 
night and get a night's rest, and go on the next day, 
which she will accede to immediately, and the victim 
will go to a hotel and call for a room, and register some 
fictitious name, and the lady as his wife; they are 
shown to their room, and after a short conversation, and 
at a given signal, there is a loud rapping at the door, 
when the victim is much frightened; the woman will 
say that she thinks it is her husband, and if it is, he 
will surely shoot both, when she ventures to open the 
door, and in rushes the man, who is very indignant, and 
threatens to shoot both parties, and finally cools down, 
and agrees to take a thousand dollars or five hundred, 
as the case may be; he pretends that he knows the old 


CONFIDENCE WOMEN. 


179 


gentleman, and calls him by name, he learning it from 
the woman, by her dropping a little card which contain¬ 
ed the information, before entering the room; the hus¬ 
band, as he pretends to be, knows the victim, where he 
lives, and all about his family, and threatens to have 
him prosecuted and exposed to the public, and rather 
than have that done, he is willing to pay a thousand 
or five hundred dollars, because if he is exposed it will 
ruin him forever, and he will willingly pay the money, 
and ask no questions. 

A case occurred some two years since. A man from 
the interior of the State of New York, who had been to 
New York city to dispose of a lot of cattle, and having 
disposed of them, was piped around by a sharper, who 
made his acquaintance, and found that he was going to 
return home the next day, and intended taking the day- 
boat up the river to Albany; he laid his plans accord¬ 
ingly. He got a woman, and had her and his partner 


180 


CONFIDENCE WOMEN. 


take passage on the same boat; after the boat started, 
it was some time before the victim would engage in con¬ 
versation with her, but when the bell rang for dinner, 
she asked him where the dining hall was, that she was 
traveling alone, and being a stranger, she would be glad 
to find company; as she was traveling the same route 
that he was, he would be happy to accompany her, if 
she was willing; they took dinner, and after dinner 
they promenaded around; the victim found her a very 
agreeable and fine lady—was much pleased with her, 
and was much interested in her after hearing her story, 
which was of the old kind ; she had been married but a 
short time, her husband had driven her away, and 
taken all her clothes; she was fleeing from him, and 
going to try and live by herself, and she was glad that 
she had found a friend ; he felt exceedingly happy 
that he had found her, and was proud to think that he 
could help her, and told her all his troubles—that he 



CONFIDENCE WOMEN. 


181 


was a married man, and had a large farm in Madison 
county—that his wife was an exceedingly had woman, 
and he could not live with her, as they were continually 
quarreling. He proposed stopping over night in Al¬ 
bany, and taking the cars the next day, as it would he 
too fatiguing for her to travel all night; she, of course, 
could not object, coming, as it did, from a friend; when 
the boat arrived in Albany, the victim went to the hotel 
and engaged a room, and registered the woman as his 
wife; after tea she proposed a walk, and after looking at 
the Capitol and the city in general, they went back to 
the hotel; her object in taking the walk was to let her 
partner know how things stood, which she did by drop¬ 
ping him a little strip of paper, and he following them 
until they returned to the hotel; after sitting and con¬ 
versing awhile, the victim became very sleepy, so much 
so, that the woman put her hand inside of his under¬ 
shirt and took all his money, which amounted, in all, to 


182 


CONFIDENCE WOMEN. 


about twenty-seven hundred dollars, besides a draft for 
thirteen hundred and odd dollars, when she and her 
partner left, taking the train for the West, stopping at 
Schenectady and taking the cars for Saratoga Springs. 
The victim did not wake up until the next morning, 
after coming to himself, and finding that he was robbed, 
concluded to say nothing about the matter, he being a 
man of family and standing at home, and having regis¬ 
tered the woman as his wife. The man who acted in 
concert with this woman, is now serving fifteen years in 
Sing Sing. The woman is dead. 

Another case I will mention which occurred in Cleve¬ 
land some years since. The victim, a young man from 
Connecticut, who had quite a sum of money, and in¬ 
tended investing the same in land in the West. He was 
picked up on the steamboat Northern Indiana, since 
burned on her trip from Buffalo to Cleveland ; he came 



CONFIDENCE WOMEN. 


183 


off the ears at Buffalo, from Albany, and was induced 
by a very genteel appearing man to take the boat, as it 
was much pleasanter, and as the railroads were in very 
bad repair, and the bridges very dangerous, he finally 
concluded to take the boat. He then went on board 
and engaged a room, and while walking through the 
cabin, a lady stepped forward and asked him some ques¬ 
tion concerning the route. When the boat landed in 
Cleveland next morning, this couple could have been 
seen in company together taking a hack, and finally 
brought up at one of the large Hotels on Superior 
Street. 

The next day this young man was at the police office, 
the hardest looking young man you could find in a long 
walk—his eyes were bloodshot, and money all gone, 
besides a valuable gold watch and chain, which had been 
presented to him before leaving home. 


184 


CONFIDENCE WOMEN. 


He told his story in the following way : He got ac¬ 
quainted with a young lady coming up in the boat; she 
proposed traveling on in company with him, as he was 
going to the State of Iowa, as she was also going there 
to feach school. After they arrived in Cleveland, they 
stopped at a hotel; in the afternoon he proposed taking 
a ride, and after driving some distance out of town, they 
stopped at a hotel or tavern, called for some lemonade, 
which they both drank, and then started on. In a short 
time he began to feel very dizzy and could not tell which 
way he was driving ; he remembers stopping at a small 
piece of woods, and being brought to town next morn¬ 
ing both penniless and sick. 

This young man was robbed in the following way :— 
A man made his acquaintance on the cars from Roches¬ 
ter to Buffalo, found out his business, how much money 
he had, and tried to beat it out of him by gambling, but 


CONFIDENCE WOMEN. 


185 


he would not gamble, nor let his money be used for 
gambling ; and bis having a large sum made him a 
good subject for some game. The game they chose was 
a desperate one ; the sharpers, or thieves as they were, 
adopted this method of robbing him; and, as they have 
all manner of things for their business, brought him in 
contact with a woman whose husband had been sent to 
Columbus State Prison some years previous, for being 
concerned in the famous Martha Washington affair, and 
one of the men that robbed-him was also concerned in 
the same affair, and after her husband had been sent to 
prison, she traveled with him. 

After they arrived in Cleveland she induced him to 
take a ride, which he did ; when they called for lemon¬ 
ade, she drugged him by slipping it in his drink, while 
he was looking at the horse. When at home this young 
man was considered moral and virtuous, and if not met 


186 


CONFIDENCE WOMEN. 


by this woman, might have been to the present, as he 

was tried many times, before the boat left Buffalo, to 

bet on three card monte, but would not ; so you can see 

the difference—he could be beat by a woman, but not 

by a man. The amount he lost was seventeen hundred 

dollars, besides his gold watch and chain. He made a 

complaint at the police office, but nothing was ever 

heard of the robbers or money ; but if this young man 

* 

had went to Cincinnati, he might have seen the lady 
and the fine young man with a large black mustache 
who was so polite to him, and offered him part of a seat 
coming from Bochester to Buffalo, riding out every 
afternoon for a few weeks. The money did not last 
long, as they were at their old trade a few weeks after 
in Detroit, with what success I could not say, but sup¬ 
pose they did well, as that game paid well for a short 
time, but had its day, like everything else. I think 
some of the mysterious disappearances could be traced 


CONFIDENCE WOMEN. 


187 


to this source, especially one that took place some two 
years since, of a citizen of Buffalo; he started for Cleve¬ 
land or Cincinnati, and was never heard of after, 
although there was some five hundred dollars offered as 
a reward ; he was last seen in Cleveland. 


The Thimble Game. 


The Thimble G-ame. Who has not heard of the 
Game of Thimbles, or Thimble Riggers, as they are 
sometimes called. For the edification of those who have 
been so fortunate as not to have seen it, I will briefly 
describe it. This game is played, as all other- short 
games, with a capper, which is indispensibly necessary 
in all games. The gambler produces three small 
wooden thimbles, or made to represent thimbles, as they 
are not as hollow as a woman's thimble, and a small 
ball of paper, and sometimes it is made of sponge, and 
placing the balls on his knee, or some smooth surface, 



THE THIMBLE GAME. 


189 


commences operations by rolling the little ball with his 
third finger under each of the thimbles, which are in a 
row, lifting first one and then the other, as the ball ap¬ 
proaches it with his thumb and forefinger, playing it 
along from one to the other; when all is ready, he 
suffers the ball to stop, half-disclosing, half-concealing 
its resting place, he then lifts his hand and the capper 
sees the little joker, and shows it to some victim, and 
proposes a bet as to which thimble the ball is under; 
the gambler then changes it again, and the bet is made, 
the capper always acting as stakeholder; the victim is 
told to raise the thimble, as it generally gives better 
satisfaction, and if the capper and victim bet together, 
which is frequently the case, and they lose, the capper 
can then raise the right thimble, and tell the victim he 
raised the wrong thimble, and made him loose his 
money, and sometimes they can get him to bet again, 


190 


THE THIMBLE GAME. 


but not very often, as they generally intend to make the 
first bet tell, and it is not often a man will bet twice, as 
some of the crowd will take him aside and tell him to 
beware. 


Mock Auctions, or Peter Funks. 


This class of swindlers is composed of gamblers, broken 
down merchants and thieves of all kinds. The tricks 
of these scoundrels are such, in many cases, as are calcu¬ 
lated to deceive the smartest people who are on the 
lookout for great bargains. In order to conduct, suc¬ 
cessfully, one of these establishments, twenty or thirty 
of these worthies go in together, and by assuming differ¬ 
ent disguises, such as dress and actions, are enabled to 
personate all kinds of people, and it is very necessary to 
have a friend in the police, more especially the one 
that patrols the beat which takes in the shop, as it is 
frequently the case that after a victim has been swind- 



192 MOCK AUCTIONS, OR PETER FUNKS. 

led, he tells his story to the first officer whom he meets; 
the officer will agree to get his money hack for a certain 
consideration, and after things are arranged, he goes to 
the shop and tells the victim to sit down while he talks 
with the proprietor, to see what can he done; he goes 
back in the rear, and they arrange things to suit them¬ 
selves ; sometimes the victim gets half of the money 
hack, and the balance is divided between the officer and 
the Funks; the officer tells the victim that he is doing 
well at that, if he should prosecute he will have to give 
bail for his appearance against the parties, and then he 
will have to attend court and hire a lawyer, which will 
be more trouble than it is all worth, and sometimes 
they will agree to pay back half the money, and give 
the victim broken bank notes; if he doubts the genuine¬ 
ness of them, he . is referred to some broker in the crowd, 
who pronounces them perfectly good, and the officer 
will do the same; the victim will never suspect the 


MOCK AUCTIONS, OR PETER FUNKS. 193 

officer, and when he leaves the location he seldom ever 
returns, and when he does he finds a different set of 
men, and another man on the heat, who, of course, 
knows nothing of the transaction. 

But these sharpers, with all their shrewdness, some¬ 
times meet their equals. A case occurred, not long 
since, in which a number of Californians, who had just 
arrived by steamship, figured. Two of them were 

j 

sauntering dowm Broadway, and were enticed into one 
of these swindling concerns. A genuine gold watch had 
just been put up, worth eighty dollars, and the Califor¬ 
nians commenced bidding; the watch was run up to 
some sixty dollars, and finally knocked down at sixty- 
five dollars. When the Californian pulled out his purse 
to pay for it, the auctioneer requested him to pass it up, 
while he put it in a box and made out a bill of sale; the 
Californian said it was no matter, as he thought it was 
all right, and would put it in his pocket; the crowd 


194 


MOCK AUCTIONS, OB PETER FUNKS. 


then gathered around him and tried to get the watch 
away from him ; he drew his revolver and called on his 
friend, who did the same thing, and threatened to shoot 
the first man that came near him. He then counted out 
sixty-five dollars in gold, and walked out. The Funks 
were out some fifteen dollars by that operation. The 
reason of his wanting him to pass the watch up and get 
a bill of sale, was to ring another watch on him that 
looked just like the one he bid on, but he was too smart 
for the Funks. He made about fifteen or twenty dollars 
by the operation, and saw the elephant besides. 



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